Little Wonders
by RiverxBoysxGirl
Summary: "Our lives are made in these small hours, these little wonders... these twists and turns of fate". A continuation of Romeo and Indi's married life, with more good times, more bad and a few more surprises around the corner... Romeo/Indi, Casey/Sasha as of newer chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone! This is my very first story and although I've got heaps of others planned (especially lots more HAA ones!), I thought I'd start with putting this up and seeing if you guys like it. Would really appreciate reviews/favourites/alerts and feel free to message me if you ever want to chat :) Enjoy the story! Here's chapter one...**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter One:<strong>

The two Walker girls were home alone on a Tuesday afternoon as Sid was at the diner, making excuses to be around Roo, along with Dex, who had tagged along for his internship, while Romeo was currently at work, planning to go for a quick surf afterwards and not being expected home until dinner time or later.

Walking out of the bathroom, with a towel, Sasha walked towards her older sister's room.

"Indi?" she called out through the wood of the door with her face pressed against the outside door frame of her half-sister & brother in-laws bedroom.

Indi had been sitting inside the room for the last three quarters of an hour, re-reading over the same page with none of the information sinking through at the present time. She'd hoped it would work as a boring distraction, but she was wrong.

"Yeah?" she answered, walking over and opening her door to the fifteen year old.

Passing back the towel awkwardly, Sasha's pointed to the item she was passing on.

"There's uh, a, something in there. I assume it's yours – well it's sure as hell not mine and I'd be worried if it belonged to one of the boys, so it's a process of elimination I guess."

Indi nodded, not needing to look inside to be certain of what her sister's babble was regarding. "Okay..."

"Does Romeo know?" Sasha asked crossing her arms, leaning against the door frame as the blonde adjacent to her shook her head.

"No, no he doesn't. I wanted to be sure before I brought it up and he's had a lot on his plate right now anyway."

"Fair enough. So... congratulations I guess?"

Indi sighed, sounding a little exasperated. "In an unexpected way, yeah I guess so."

"Well your baby better not call me Aunty or Aunt Sasha, okay? It's Sasha, Sash or nothing" Sasha strictly stated, smirking as she started to walk off.

Indi laughed lightly, grateful to her sister for lightening the mood. "Okay. I'll try to make sure it won't. And _please_ don't say anything to Romeo... or Dad... or Dex."

"Okay, I won't... _Mum_" Sasha taunted as she pushed away from the door, starting to walk off to her own room down the hallway.

"Thanks... _Aunty_ Sasha" Indi said with a laugh before she walked back into her room, returning to the textbook page so that she could read it again for the umpteenth time.

#

Later that evening, Dex & Sid had returned home, bearing the household's dinner, pizza, which the two boys, along with Indi & Sasha were now obliterating.

"So, Dad... Have you ever delivered any baby's before?" Sasha asked randomly, earning herself a glare from Indi on the other side of the table.

"Yes I have, Sash" Sid replied with a proud smile as he sat up a little straighter, pleased with himself that his youngest and most unresponsive daughter seemed to be making an effort or at least interest.

"Why don't you ask me stuff like that? I'm a doctor too! ... Well a nurse is close enough" Dex whinged as he took another bite out of his slice of pizza.

"Cause I know that any half-sane human wouldn't let you near their child after what you did to William. Right, Indi?" Sasha smirked at Indi who in exchange kicked her ankle under the table.

"What was that for?"

"Accident. Anyway, thanks Dad, but I'm not really hungry anymore" Indi said, taking her plate over to the sink and walking out of the living area before Sasha's jokes got even more awkward and she'd have to explain herself.

Walking to her bedroom, she stopped when she heard the front door being opened and turned to see her husband walking inside.

"Hey" he smiled as he walked in and seeing Indi, walked over and gave her a quick peck.

"Hi. How was your day?" Indi asked as she ran a hand through her husband's wet hair.

Romeo just shrugged. "It was alright I guess. Lost a customer and gained a customer today."

Moving her hand from his hair down to resting it on his chest, Indi tried to find her voice, even feeling that stage one of this process was hard. "There's something we need to talk about, Romeo..."

"Okay. I'm just gonna have a shower first if that's okay or is it urgent?"

"Nah, that's fine. I'll be in the room" she said, reaching up on her tip-toes and kissing his cheek before they parted ways.

In the shower, Romeo was assuming Indi wanted to talk about one of their current hot topics, either bills or money, but was trying to figure out which bill was so overdue.

In their bedroom, Indi was thinking about the totally opposite thing to what was on her husband's mind. She was starting to feel nervous about how he'd react to her news and whether he even wanted this baby. She tried to calm her nerves by attempting to reassure herself that Romeo was generally rational and that he was definitely a 'family first' kind of guy, so surely he'd be fine and get used to the idea.

A couple of minutes later, Romeo walked into their bedroom, which prompted Indi to look up from the floor where she'd been gazing in a daydream.

"Are you okay?" Romeo asked, sitting down next to Indi, observing her closely. "You look kind of pale."

"Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just trying to process this."

"Process what?"

She sighed, looking away, which just made Romeo feel more alarmed as he realized that Indi couldn't be talking about bills. "Indi? What's wrong? Please tell me. You're scaring me."

"I'm pregnant" Indi said, speaking softly as she looked away, unable to see the shock that passed through her husband's eyes.

* * *

><p><strong>So I started off with a bit of a cliffhanger, sorry, but chapter 2 is ready and waiting to be uploaded for once I get some feedback! Would love to know whatever you guys thought of it so far, whether you like the idea, if you have any advice or any ideas for what you'd like me to include in this story and most importantly, if you want me to continue! <strong>

**Next chapter: **

**x How will Romeo react? A****nd Romeo & Indi talk about the baby. **


	2. Chapter 2

**A big thanks to my 4 reviewers of the first chapter! I really appreciate your kind words and I'm glad you liked the start. Here's the next chap, I hope you like it!**

**By the way, the chapters will be getting much longer as I get further into the story, so I'm sorry for the shorter chapters at the moment!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Two:<strong>

After his wife's unexpected revelation, Romeo just sat in silence, panicking on the inside a bit, having not even suspected or considered that _that_ was what Indi wanted to talk about.

He was open to the idea of having a baby at some point, but thought that option would be a lot, lot more planned and a lot later down the track.

Realizing that he hadn't said a word, either way, good or bad, Indi looked up from her cowering downwards gaze and focused on her husband again who had frozen in his spot and stayed frozen for another minute or so before he got up, made a feeble attempt to comfort Indi by touching her shoulder before walking out of the room, muttering, "I need air".

Pacing out of their bedroom, through the hallway and past the living room, Romeo was completely oblivious to the loud and heated arguement that Sasha & Dex were in a current debate about while Sid was washing the dishes, listening, having given up trying to defuse the fight.

Indi, still in the room wasn't sure how to take Romeo's reaction. She wasn't expecting him to be raising the rooftops in happiness and she hadn't expected him to have a full on breakdown either, but she really did want to know what he was thinking. He likes kids and he was good with George the few times they'd looked after him together, but having a baby of their own was a much bigger matter...

Romeo, standing on the deck outside was clutching onto the wooden balcony beam so tight that the skin around his knuckles was going white. It was getting dark and a bit cold outside, but the temperature didn't compute. The only topics passing through his mind at the moment was 'Indi' 'baby' and 'money'. He wasn't quite twenty years old, hadn't even been married for one year yet and already he was set to be a father. He didn't feel deserving enough and found himself instantly fearing that he would follow in both of his parents footsteps with the bad parenting and screw up his own child also.

A while later, Indi had finally managed to work up the courage to go outside and talk to Romeo, just as Romeo was thinking about coming back inside, feeling a lot calmer than when he'd initially walked out of the house.

Letting his grip of the banister fade slowly, colour eventually returned to Romeo's hands as he heard the front door creak open, followed by light, slow footsteps and the noise of the door shutting again.

Looking around, he smiled at Indi who was sheepishly walking towards him, gaining a bit of confidence when she saw his smile.

As the two eventually made physical contact, with the skin of their arms touching, Romeo wrapped an arm Indi's shoulders, pulling her close to his side. "I was about to come back in to you."

"Great minds think alike, I guess" she murmurmed, not really knowing what else to say to his comment.

After more silence, Romeo turned his head toward Indi, lowering it slightly and kissing the top of her hair before he broke the silence again. "How long have you known?"

"Since his morning. I took a test this morning after you left and then another one later this afternoon just to double check."

He nodded, whispering back in response. "You should've said something to me. I could've been there for you."

Not realizing just how supportive her husband was with their current predicament, Indi felt marginally happier and less anxious, hearing how willing he was to be there for her. "Thanks, but I didn't want to worry you about it if there was nothing to worry about. Besides, you've been really stressed lately with work and..." Indi started to reason, before Romeo cut her off.

"Wait a minute, work doesn't matter. You... well my family is my main priority, Indi. You come before a job, everytime. Remember that."

"Thank you" she whispered softly, not even sure if he would've been able to hear her, resting her head against one of Romeo rock-hard abs.

As Indi wrapped her arms around Romeo's waist, he stroked Indi's hair, running a hand through it gently and for nearly fifteen minutes, the couple stood there just relaxing and enjoying the peace and quiet together, completely forgetting about that days revelation until Romeo brought it up again.

"So are you okay?"

Indi's eyebrows furrowed, not quite understanding where Romeo's question was coming from and what it was directed at. "What do you mean?"

"With the, um, baby. You haven't been sick or anything, have you?"

She shook her head. "Nah, I've been fine. If anything, just a little bit more tired than normal."

"Good" he replied, kissing her cheek. "Do you know far you are?"

Again, Indi shook her head and bit her lip. "I don't know how far for sure, but my guess would be maybe 4 or 5 weeks along."

Romeo silently acknowledged her with a nod, continuing to play with and stroke her hair, before letting himself get caught up in a irresistible daydream; the thought of a mini-Indi, a little girl aged around maybe 2 or so playing with his wife, both of them smiling and laughing together happily. It was a beautiful idea for Romeo and he was seeing the first glimpses of light from the rainbow through this big grey cloud that has just been thrown in front of their path.

Slowly Romeo's hand descended from where it was playing with Indi's hair, stroking her cheek and shoulder on the way as it slid down to her stomach, where he gently brushed the tips of his fingers against her hip before his hand moved direction marginally and rubbed her perfectly flat belly, but where the couple knew a tiny little mesh of half-Romeo and half-Indi was growing slowly.

Neither of them had to ask the other about any options with regards to what they were going to do with their unborn child. It went without saying for both of them. What was done was done, and as for the future, there was no question about it.

* * *

><p><strong>So what did you think? I'd love to know what you thought of it and any opinions or advice that you guys have. Also, if you want me to include anything or if you have ideas, let me know cause I write it for you to enjoy :)<strong>

**Next chapter:**

**x Romeo & Sasha talk. **

**x Romeo's first fears kick in and he starts worrying about being a Dad. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey :) Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter! It means a lot and thankfully, I've managed to make this chapter a bit longer for you all! I hope you like it! **

**On a side note, I just thought I'd say that I've set up a poll on my account page, just for curiousity about your favourite H&A couples and the more votes, the better! Anyway, enjoy the chapter :) **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Three:<strong>

The next morning, life went on as usual, no different to any other morning, especially considering the effort Romeo & Indi were putting in to make sure their secret stayed between them... and Sasha until it was officially confirmed at Indi's appointment, or even more ideally until after she'd past the first trimester.

However, a morning experienced in the Walker household was one that equaled utter chaos. Dex was arguing with Sasha over who's turn it was to make breakfast that morning (the two alternated days so that every second day was like a day off where they didn't have to bother making themselves breakfast), Sid was tossing Romeo a piece of toast that he'd forgotten to collect from the toaster and Indi rushed back into the living room from her bedroom after having just changed her shoes for the third time this morning, to check that she had the right textbook in her bag once more before she left.

Sasha and Dex had the most time up their sleeves, Sasha needing to be at school in an hour and half and Dex needing to be signed it at work in an hour. Sid had to be check in at the Yabbie Creek Police Station by eleven to show he hadn't skipped town because of his A.V.O, which he could do after dropping his youngest two children off in town first. Romeo and Indi, needing to be at work and Uni sooner than the other family members and were just about ready to leave, planning to dropp Indi off at Uni for her first class of the morning before Romeo drove back down to the Bay for work.

There was a lot of juggling with transport in the Walker family and nearly every day the arrangement was different, depending on who was working, who had plans, who had classes and who had days off. It even varied from morning to afternoon and like with today for example, Sid, Dex & Sasha had gone into town together and then separately Romeo & Indi had gone in together this morning too, but this afternoon, Romeo finished work early and at around the same time Sasha finished school so they'd go back to the Farm together with Sid collecting his eldest two children from Uni and the hospital later that day.

#

By three o'clock that afternoon, Romeo was parked outside of the school in the car park, occupying his time waiting for Sasha by playing his move in a game of with Words With Friends against Xavier on his iPhone. Ten minutes later, Sasha halted by crashing into the door of the car, leaving Romeo worried about whether she'd dented the outside before she opened the car and threw her school bag into the backseat that narrowly scrapped past and missed Romeo's head on the way.

"Hey Sash" he greeted as she jumped in, following after her bag, but too pre-occupied with texting on her phone to answer Romeo.

The texting continued and Romeo just decided to cave in and drive off, considering attempting to have another conversation with her later down the road.

"So how was your day?" he asked conversationally, this time getting a shrug and murmured "Yeah alright I guess" in reply. Romeo nodded, noticing she was still texting and deeply engrossed in her other conversation with someone else.

Another kilometer or so down the road, Romeo asked another question, expecting to get another one word response but figuring that that feeble conversation was better than silence. "Who are you texting?"

"Felix. He has to go to soccer practice now though" informed Sasha as she put her phone in her pocket, prompting silence again, before it was almost like a light bulb lit up, reminding her.

"So, Romeo, that's enough questions from you... my turn now" she smirked from the passenger's seat as Romeo looked over at her weirdly, having no idea what she was talking about ... and reminding him a lot of Dex.

"Have you ever seen a baby being born before?" she questioned, leaving Romeo with no idea of how to take her question. If she really was having a 'Dex moment' then her random question would have no rhyme or reason, but considering the news his wife had dealt him yesterday he wondered what the chances were of Sasha asking a question like that coincidently or whether the more likely chance was that Indi had told her without telling him he'd told her.

In the end, he decided to play along and see where Sasha would lead the conversation, hopefully in turn helping him discover the reasoning behind her question. "Um, not really no."

"Have you ever held a baby before?" Sasha asked, firing the second question off her mental list at him.

"Yeah. I've held my friend Nicole's baby son a couple of times before."

She nodded, taking the data her brother-in-law had fed her so far into consideration but continuing with her list. "Are you going to teach the baby to surf?"

Romeo looked over at her again, realizing Indi must've told her, but nonetheless he still asked the question. "How do you know Indi's pregnant? When did she tell you?"

She shrugged smugly, "I accidently found out yesterday afternoon. She left the test in the bathroom."

Accepting her reason and understanding why Indi didn't tell him, Romeo nodded with Sasha repeating her question. "You didn't answer me by the way. Are you going to teach the baby to surf when it's old enough?"

"I don't know. Hopefully... maybe... I don't know" he said, replying truthfully considering Sasha's question hadn't even crossed his mind at the slightest.

"What about Mink? Is she gonna come back to see the baby after it's born? I liked your sister..."

He shrugged, laughing lightly at how carried away the fifteen year old was getting. "I don't know Sash. At the moment, she doesn't even know there_ is_ a baby."

Forgetting and not bothering to answer Romeo, Sasha continued with the next question, more or less as soon as Romeo had closed his mouth. "So are you going to cut the umbilical cord when it's born? What do you want to name the baby?"

Getting fed up by this stage and slightly panicked, realizing all of the important things that hadn't even crossed his mind over the last 18 hours or so of knowing, Romeo snapped at Sasha, hoping like hell that her uncomfortable interrogation of him would stop. "I honestly don't know Sasha! I haven't had the chance to think about it and I've gotta talk to Indi about some of that stuff. Can we please change the subject, okay?"

Nodding, Sasha shut up, but attempted to think of a way to weave more questions into the conversation without getting her brother-in-law so angry that he might get distracted and irate enough to wrap the car around a tree on the way home. She didn't have any more ideas currently so she decided to wait until they got home and when she was doing her homework later, she'd try to come up with some others.

However, for the remainder of the silent drive home, Sasha hadn't realized how much she had panicked Romeo who was stewing over what she'd said and all of the questions she'd raised as he drove and continued to worry after they got home, parting ways to do their own thing.

But later that day, when Indi got home from work, she got a bit of a surprise seeing her normally as 'cool-as-a-cucumber' husband pacing around the room in the shape of a square.

"What's wrong?" she asked, dropping her handbag in the corner and walking over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder to try and keep him stationary.

With big eyes, he looked to his wife with concern. "Sasha just said some stuff that got me thinking."

"And? What sort of stuff did she say?"

Converting Indi's question and not answering it directly, he just blurted out what was on his mind. "I think she was playing a game of 'how quickly can you make your brother-in-law feel uncomfortable?' And I mean, I haven't seen a baby actually being born before Indi... What if I can't take it and faint or something? That happens to guys!"

Indi thought about it momentarily. "We can go to birthing classes or something. They might give you an idea of what to expect."

"And we gotta find a way to tell Mink... And my mum... And your mum" Romeo stated nervously.

"Then there's the other stuff like if we should or can afford to move out now and the work situation and how on earth do you figure out how to choose a baby name?" Romeo said all at once, at a very fast pace.

Rubbing his arm, Indi couldn't help but laugh at the role-reversal. Normally she'd be doing the freaking out and he'd be doing the comforting, but for once, the tables were turned. "Calm down Romeo! Don't let Sasha get to you. There's no rush and we've got months left to sort everything out."

Romeo nodded, feeling better almost instantly just from the relief of venting. "Sorry. She just got me thinking and I realized how little I know. I don't want to be a bad parent... especially considering the poor father role models that my Dad and step-Dad were."

"Hey, you won't be anything like that. You're the nicest, most caring guy I know. You know the difference between right and wrong and if you're worrying about being a bad dad, then that just shows me how much you want the best for the baby and it proves how much of a good, caring and protective father you'll be to it. You won't be anything like them."

He smiled, pulling Indi into a hug where the couple stayed for a while until she pulled out of the hug to look back up at her husband. "Ooh, by the way, I booked a doctor's appointment today. I've got go in to the hospital on Friday at 12:30, which I think is luckily when Dex is on lunch break if I remember right."

"Okay, but uh... correction Indi. I believe that _we'll_ be going to the hospital tomorrow at 12:30."

She looked up at him puzzled. I've got the afternoon off then, but you're meant to be working."

"I'll give Dennis a call and ask him if I can leave early, at 12 or something."

She tried resisted smiling, but couldn't help it. "You don't have to come with me Romeo... You should probably work."

He simply shook his head. "Nope. It's non-negotiable. I'm coming with you. Besides, I don't think I'd be able to work knowing what I was missing out on."

"It probably won't be anything that interesting. We might not even be able to see the baby."

"I don't mind" he shrugged. "I'm still gonna come with you."

Indi smiled, giving in to Romeo. "Alright. Just make sure you check with Dennis."

He nodded at his wife, saluting her with a: "Yes Maam!" making her giggle.

"Come here" she laughed as he obediently moved closer to her as she seized the moment raising and wrapping her arms around his shoulders while she kissed him deeply. Smiling in the kiss, Romeo too wrapped his arms around her waist as the couple continued kissing, getting deeper and deeper before Romeo suddenly pulled away, but kept her close.

"What's wrong?" Indi whispered, puzzled about his unusual separation.

Leaning down slightly and resting his head on her shoulder, Romeo mumbled into her hair, which he was inhaling. "What if the baby doesn't wanna surf?"

He sounded genuinely sad or concerned about it which prompted Indi to laugh out aloud. "Hey, if you can get me on a board, Romeo, you can get anyone out there." She assured him, kissing his cheek, before he smiled and cheered up again, raising his head from the crook of her neck, moving in closer and continuing where they'd left of with the kissing.

* * *

><p><strong>So there's another chapter done... I hope you liked it! Would love to know what you thought and any ideas you guys have too :) <strong>

**Don't forget to review & check out my poll if you can too! :D **

**Next chapter:**

**x Dex becomes suspicious of Romeo & Indi.**

**x Romeo & Indi go to Indi's doctors appointment and see the baby for the first time.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Two days later, Romeo left the farm at 12 with enough time to pick Indi up from Uni and be at the hospital by 12:30.

Walking through the campus to meet up with her firstly, Romeo looked around the vast area that was filled with teenagers and young adults, trying to spot one girl in particular.

Sighting Romeo before he saw her, Indi walked up to her husband, talking with a friend that was in her Business Studies class.

"Hey you" she said loudly, to catch his attention from several metres away. He smiled, walking closer to her and met up with her half-way where Indi reached up and kissed his cheek.

"Hi" he replied, automatically taking the textbook and excercise book that she'd been carrying off of her to carry himself and continued smiling, oblivious that Indi's brunette friend was next to her too.

"Emma" she started to say, in an attempt to introduce the two to each other. "This my husband Romeo. Romeo, this is a friend who's in my class, Emma."

Realizing someone else was present too, Romeo's focus returned to normal as he put his hand out and shook Emma's tanned hand.

"Nice to meet you" Romeo said politely, before turning back to Indi. "We should leave or else we might be running a bit late."

She nodded, agreeing with him, saying goodbye to Emma before the couple started walking in the opposite direction to her, headed for the car.

"So how are you?" Romeo asked conversationally to break the unawkward silence.

"Um, yeah, fine" she stated, with her find elsewhere, starting to feel a bit nervous and apprehensive about the appointment. Since this morning, her mind had been going through the irrational and unlikely fears of her child not being healthy or normal, worrying that it might have two heads or Downs Syndrome or something. It was unlikely and the chances were very low, but the worries came automatically. She couldn't help it.

Romeo on the other hand was looking forward to the appointment, feeling pumped and excited and really hoping to be able to see the baby. His fears from the days before had totally dissolved away and the more thought that he gave the matter, the more excitement was kicking in.

"You sure? You haven't been sick or anything?" he double-checked aware that morning sickness may kick in later during the pregnancy. She nodded, silent, focusing on her worries that went unnoticed by her husband who was mentally elsewhere, in his own little bubble of happiness.

Getting to the car, they drove off while Indi's inaudible fears had changed to worrying over the chance that their baby could turn out to be a plural... babies. Obviously nothing had been confirmed yet and all her worries were unlikely possibilities but she was at the point of wanting to get to the hospital and get the appointment over and done with before she went insane or lost her mind... whichever came first.

#

Arriving at the hospital, they had 10 minutes left before their scheduled appointment time, but considering all the last minute emergencies and low-staff count for the coastal town hospital, there would more than likely be a delay as their usually was.

Walking in together, the couple was holding hands as they walked up to the reception desk and Indi checked in for the appointment, before the nurse told them to take a seat and wait for the doctor who was presently busy.

Finding two seats next to each other and sitting down, Romeo slouched back in the seat comfortably, preparing himself for the wait while Indi sat forward and upright in her seat, feeling edgier and more nervous as time went by.

"You okay?" Romeo asked, noticing how uptight and tense she looked.

Nodding, Indi tried to hide her worries that she felt a bit stupid and embarrased about. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Leaning forward to kiss her cheek, Romeo wordlessly acknowledged her, getting a feint smile back in response from his gesture.

The sweet moment was interrupted as a jet black haired teenager approached the couple looking more puzzled and doppier than usual. "Indi? Romeo?" the voice questioned, getting the couples attention as they both looked up at Dex.

"Hey mate" Romeo greeted, smiling a little bit more as he noticed Dex's nurses uniform... no matter how many times he saw it, it always had the power to amuse him.

"Dex? What are you doing here? I thought you had a break now?" Indi questioned, a bit annoyed and embarrased considering she'd purposely booked this time, thinking that her brother wouldn't be around, saving the awkward encounter of meeting up in a hospital.

"Normally I do, but on Friday's, sigh, my break's an hour later. I'm starving. No chance either of you have food?"

Simultaneously, Romeo & Indi shook their heads getting a disappointed sigh in response from Dex. Quickly looking behind him, Dex moved over to the spare seat next to Romeo, sitting down momentarily.

"So why are you guys here? But don't get me wrong, I like visitors" Dex asked as he rested his arms on his knees and placed his cheek in his palm, but looking at his sister and brother-in-law next to him.

Sharing an awkward gaze, Romeo & Indi looked back at him, both quickly trying to concoct an excuse. The couple had decided not to tell any other family members about her pregnancy until they'd had it confirmed by the doctors too and then they'd try to keep the secret from the rest of the town until she'd passed the safe zone and was past the first trimester.

"Um... Romeo's due for a tetnus shot, but he doesn't like needles so I thought I'd come with him and hold his hand." Indi stated, hoping their excuse was believeable enough for her brother would buy it.

"Well that's disgustingly soppy" he said, screwing his face up.

Indi shrugged and smiled, pleased with her on the spot idea, whereas Romeo frowned at the excuse which he thought made him sound weak and measly.

After a minute or so of silence, Dex let out and exasperated sigh and stood up. "I should get back to working. Good luck Romeo. See you guys at home" he said, before walking off.

Once out hearing range, Romeo looked at Indi cynically. "Injections? Really Indi?"

She laughed lightly, rubbing his shoulder as she spoke. "Sorry... it was the only thing I could come up with at the last minute. But hey, look on the bright side. At least he bought the excuse! Maybe he thinks you're wimpier than you look!"

Rolling his eyes and looking away with a smirk, Romeo tried to look annoyed with her but it didn't last for very long, even if he'd wanted it to.

"Indigo Smith?" a doctor called, walking out of a room, holding a yellow coloured file and announcing the name aloud.

Wordlessly, Indi stood up grabbing her handbag and walked towards the doctor, being followed by Romeo who was a few steps behind her.

Dex was nearby and in ear-shot, standing over by the next nurses station waiting to receive instructions over what he had to do next and overhead the doctor calling his sister's name... but wasn't it Romeo that was meant to be getting the tetnus shot?

He frowned, wondering why the duo hadn't been honest to him. Maybe Indi was sick or something? The male nurse didn't put two and two together, not even considering the fact his sister might be pregnant...

#

Walking into Dr Clarke's room, Romeo & Indi sat down next to each other on the seats opposite the doctors desk. "So Indigo, what can I do for you today?"

"Well about a week ago I started thinking that I might be pregnant, so then I tested it twice a couple days ago and both tests came up positive" Indi said softly, feeling a little bit awkward and out of her comfort zone, not to mention, still a bit worried.

The doctor nodded at her. "Alright. So you basically just want it confirmed and for me to make sure of it?"

"Yeah" Indi replied with a nod, as Romeo sat back in his seat comfortably, taking turns between looking from Indi, to the doctor and back to Indi again.

"So have you experienced any symptoms?" the doctor asked in-between scrawling something down quickly.

"Um, well I skipped at least one period and I've just felt quite tired too" Indi recalled.

The doctor nodded. "I see. I'll just take some tests then to double check and see if we can hear a heartbeat or see anything on an ultrasound. How far do you think you might be?"

Indi paused for a moment, mentally considering the doctors question before giving him the same answer that she gave Romeo. "Uh I don't know exactly, but at a rough guess maybe 4 or 5 weeks."

"Okay, now I'll just take a few tests to make sure you are" the doctor said taking the tests, including a blood test, before turning the machine on and asking Indi to sit up on the reclined bed while they waited for the results and confirmation. Walking out of the room to collect the quickly processed results, the doctor left Romeo & Indi in the room together alone. Walking over and taking ahold of his wife's hand, Romeo spoke for the first time since entering the room. "Nervous?"

She nodded. "What if the baby has two heads or 3 legs or something? Or what if there isn't even a baby at all? What if it's just a false alarm?" Indi questioned, babbling her fears out nervously, even though she knew that Romeo had as many answers to those questions as she did. Zilch.

Stroking her forehead and a lock of hair that was on her face with his thumb, Romeo calmly responded softly, almost speaking in a whisper. "Time will tell, Indi. There's nothing we can do about it right now."

She nodded, letting out a deep breath as the door opened, prompting both Romeo & Indi to look in the direction of the noise as the doctor walked into the room again, carrying a series of papers with a smile.

"Congratulations Mrs Smith. You are definitely pregnant" he announced as the couple looked at each other with a smile and while Romeo kissed her forehead that he'd been stroking with a smile, Indi let out a little sigh of relief. One fear down, mulitiple to go.

"We'll do an ultrasound now so we can get a better look at the baby and try to tell how far along you are." Indi nodded in reply with a smile, despite her nervousness that seemed to ease slightly as Romeo squeezed her hand happily.

"Could you please lift your top up to your chest?" the doctor asked and Indi obediently followed, rolling her coral coloured shirt up to just before it reached her bra and watched as the doctor pulled out the extended cord from the machine, setting it up to the monitor before grabbing a bottle filled with a translucent light blue jelly-looking liquid. "This will feel quite cold" he warned, before squeezing an even line out, along the bottom of Indi's unevidently pregnant stomach.

"Oh man" she muttered under her breath from the cold sensation, which her body quickly adjusted to as she got used to the intruding cold. Grabbing the handle of the hand-held scanner the doctor pressed it lightly, but firmly enough into the middle of the gel, using the scanner to distribute and spread the gel across her abdomen a bit more before he started focusing in, still moving the scanner around as he did so.

"So is this the first child for both of you?" he asked conversationally, but looking and concentrating on the screen.

Indi nodded silently, watching the monitor hopefully and even more anxiously, while Romeo who was looking between Indi and the monitor, answered aloud with a confident "Yup!"

The doctor acknowledged them but was still focused on locating the baby, before zooming in on a little spot of white in the middle of lots of surrounding black colour on the screen. "See that?" he asked them, pointing to the white where the attention and gaze of both Romeo & Indi moved to as they each nodded, before he added: "Well that's your baby."

Watching the little blob that was now identified as Smith Junior move a little, Indi gasped softly in surprise and happiness, commenting on her child's size. "Oh my gosh... it's so tiny!" However, Romeo who was transfixed on the white too, beamed wordlessly, absolutely intent on watching the small movements of the baby.

"Indeed, but it's not as tiny as you first thought" the doctor replied, getting a confused look from Indi despite the fact her gaze didn't move from watching the monitor. "Well by the looks of this baby, you're definitely not 4 or 5 weeks pregnant, and I would say that you're at least 8 weeks gone."

This caught Indi's attention and she momentarily looked up at the doctor in surprise, before she looked to the monitor again. "Seriously? 8 weeks? Are you sure?"

The doctor nodded confidently. "Definitely. I know what I'm talking about and I know how to measure a baby's age, Mrs Smith. Now I'll take a few photos of the baby for you to take home, if you like."

There was two definite nods from the expectant parents before the doctor took a few screenshots on the monitor that were processed and printed in the same room. After turning the machine off and wiping the leftover liquid gel off of Indi's stomach, the doctor returned to his desk and after Indi rolled her top back down her and Romeo followed him over too, as he quickly wrapped his arm around his wife's shoulder as they walked over to the desk, still beaming.

The doctor handed the photos of the tiny fetus over to Indi, who had another look at it, even though it was exactly the same as what her, Romeo & the doctor had spent the last five minutes or so watching and looking at. Then after handing over a bottle of prenatal tablets and a sheet of paper with the date and time of the next appointment, the doctor announced that he was finished and they could leave.

Together, Romeo & Indi left the room, and then the hospital hand-in-hand, trying to avoid another awkward encounter with Dex at all costs…

* * *

><p><strong>So what did you guys think? Thanks to my loyal reviewers of the last chapter, I hope you liked this one too!<strong>

**Anyway, next chapter:**

**# Dex spills his suspicions to Sasha, who already knows the truth. Will she blurt out what she's been sworn to secracy over?**

**# Romeo & Indi discuss their child and the future.**

**# They consider telling the rest of the family about Indi's pregnancy. How will the others react?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 – **

After the appointment, Indi and Romeo each got a juice from the diner, deciding to spend the afternoon together and go down to the beach for a walk.

"I really should be studying, Romeo. My practice exam's in a couple of days" Indi stated, having second thoughts about agreeing to go for the walk and take their time before heading back to the farm.

"You can do that when we get home. Besides, I know you'll blitz it - you could do that exam in your sleep" Romeo said with confidence in her, assuring her of her abilities. "Besides, when was the last time we did this?" he added, questioning her and raising his hand and the hand of Indi's that he was holding up to her attention.

Indi nodded slowly, biting her lip as she commented on her husband's muse. "True… I guess an hour out of the day won't hurt…" Kissing her cheek briefly, he reassured her of her decision. "Good choice."

With a smile, the two continued walking silently on the beach still holding hands as they made the most of the freedom, privacy and fresh salty air away from Indi's family for a rare occasion.

"So, got any lessons later today?" Indi questioned, watching as her husband shook his head.

"Not today, but I have three tomorrow" he replied.

Looking up at him with slight surprise, she confirmed the number. "Three? Seriously? That's good."

"Yeah. Two are regular lessons but one just changed to tomorrow 'cause she's busy on her normal time."

Indi nodded superficially as she started worrying about something a lot deeper. The pair still had unresolved issues in their life over the money and jobs situation and were still on the balancing see-saw of happiness, taking turns to be content and secure while the other was unhappy and uncomfortable, before changing decisions and taking a back-flip, but constantly feeling opposite to each other and never on the same wave-length.

Romeo had still been competing before now and had won the majority of the comps he entered, but Indi was still fixed on the idea that it wasn't a stable income for them, knowing the tables could turn at any point and his own talent and luck could turn on Romeo for the worse.

However, despite all of Indi's personal concerns over her husband's choice of career, she still knew how much of a sensitive topic it was for him… so she decided to bring it up from a different, more mutual perspective.

"So are you still gonna keep doing the comps and lessons?" she asked neutrally getting a nod in reply.

"Well I hope so. Why?"

She stopped, pulling him in to face her as she took a hold of his other hand as well. "Well what about the baby? We're going to need stable careers _and _incomes to support that. We can't just have you running off up to Newcastle or down to Wollongong for the weekend if a comp comes up. I won't be able to co-ordinate and juggle work, Uni and the baby all around you if things could change at the drop of the hat. I might as well be a single mother if that was our situation… Something's gotta give."

He sighed, realizing her point. "What about the odd surf comp every now and then? And just on weekends? You don't have Uni on the weekend and if you have a shift at the Diner and neither of us can take care of the baby, you could always get Sash to fill in for you."

"Well where's the rest of the money going to come from? Surfing lessons? Surf comps? Not to mention that we'll either have to hire someone or always have babysitters organized to look after our kid if we're working, and that's expensive too, you know."

Romeo frowned as the seriousness and pressure as their tricky situation became more and more evident, threatening to crush his dreams of surfing entirely, as Indi still continued to drill the facts into him. "Not to mention food. I mean, if money's low and we can't afford much, we can't exactly put the baby on a diet, Romeo…"

Releasing himself from the grip that she had on his hands, Romeo sighed, continuing to walk along the sandy beach. "I'll work something out…" he muttered softly before walking off ahead and leaving Indi standing there alone.

#

After the two separated, Romeo continued walking along the beach, sometimes changing his route and walking through the water for a while, before continuing on his path straight ahead along the sand. Reaching the end of the beach where the sand gradually became big rocks, Romeo found one of the slightly flatter rocks, taking a seat as he relaxed, looking out at the open water and watched as the big waves came rolling in with a crash – sending salty sea spray everywhere. The water soothed him, helped him find answers and it was his natural instinct of where to go when he felt the increasing knot being tied in his stomach.

Indi on the other hand made her way up to the Pier Diner, deciding to buy a drink and take her mind off the baby issues by studying for her upcoming test which she was hoping to do at home. After detouring via the car to get her textbook out to flick through and aid her memory, she finally entered the diner, headed straight for the counter where Sid was unexpectedly flipping through his wallet and pulling out a $10 note that he passed to Irene.

"Hey Dad" Indi said with a slight smile as she joined him at the counter.

"I thought you might've been here. I saw the car" he smiled as he took the plate of Risotto that Irene handed to him.

"Yeah. I was just down at the beach. Thought I would try and get a bit of studying done up here while the husband's A.W.O.L."

Sid looked over to Indi strangely. "What do you mean? Where's Romeo?"

"Further up the beach, I think" I said carelessly with a shrug.

He nodded. "Well how urgent is that studying? Are you too busy to spend a bit of time with your old man?"

She shook her head with a smile as they walked over to a table together, overlooking the beach, taking a seat opposite each other.

Looking out to the beach, Indi became distracted as she tried to look out from Romeo and his whereabouts somewhere along the beach with no success. Sid noticed his daughter's distant gaze and let out a sigh as he finished his mouthful of pumpkin risotto.

"Okay Indi. Tell me what's going on. Are you two fighting again? Do I need to ask Marilyn for some more brownies?"

Indi laughed lightly, unable to take her Dad's attempted seriousness seriously. "No… We're not fighting, just stressed. But I could do with some more of those brownies…"

"What about? Money? Do you want me to lend you some?" he questioned quickly with the hope of resolution. Sid knew all about failed marriages and relationships and he would do anything to help his daughter and son-in-law avoid that.

"Not really. Well sort of. More of the long term scheme of money."

He nodded. "Okay. If you do ever need any help with finances, you know where to come, but don't worry about it too much. Worrying about long-term money just stresses you out with no resolution."

Exhaling a sigh, Indi rested her chin in the palm of her hand. "Yeah I know Dad, and I've been trying not to , but everything's just gotten really complicated again."

"What's happened Indi?" Sid questioned with a furrowed brow, beginning to feel marginally more worried that things might've been more serious between the couple than what he'd first thought.

"I didn't want to say anything so early, but what the heck. I'm pregnant" she confessed, finding it easier to blurt out than what she'd imagined and especially much easier than what it had been to tell Romeo.

Processing the shock momentarily, before a smile erupted on the grandfather-to-be's face, Sid stood up and made his way around the small table and wrapped Indi in a hug, kissing the top of her hair.

"Oh wow, Indi! Congratulations. I wasn't expecting that!" he congratulated, still smiling as he sat down at the table again.

"Trust me. Neither were we" Indi added, before Sid stood up again, pulling his wallet out of his pants and briefed her. "Celebratory brownies on me!"

Indi smiled, watching as he walked over to the counter, still beaming, while Indi let out a sigh and checked her phone. No messages from Romeo yet. She hated not knowing what mental decisions he was making and what he was thinking without her…

#

Still sitting on the rock, Romeo was feeling a bit calmer, but still less a resolution. He had no ideas of how he was going to be able to provide for not only Indi and himself, but also a baby too. He knew Indi had wanted to move out of the Walker farm and into a flat or little house of their own, hopefully sometime in the next 6 or so months, but those plans had been thrown up into the air again too. Not to mention surfing. He really loved the circuit and wanted to continue, but money wasn't guaranteed and it was a big gamble. One injury could end his career on the circuit for good, leaving him and his family left with nothing.

He couldn't help but think about the bad timing of Indi's pregnancy and just refreshed the possibilities that he knew would never be possible with that. There's no way that he would let Indi get an abortion and he didn't even think she'd considered it; they were having the baby - end of story. The only other remaining option was adoption, but not only did he not like the idea of that either, but he also knew how much Nicole's decision to give up her baby affected and haunted her to the point she couldn't go through with it.

They were having and keeping the baby, that was that, but he just had to find the best way to earn a stable living, keep Indi happy and juggle the baby.

Suddenly, an idea jumped into his head and from first thought, all the puzzle pieces of their life seemed to fit in with that idea, but he'd have to run it by Indi, which he intended to do as he got up from the rock and made his way back down the beach, looking for his wife and hoping that she hadn't gotten annoyed and left him there to catch the bus back home or something.

#

Meanwhile, back in the café, Indi was feeling better and had forgotten nearly all of her stress as she indulged in the chocolate brownie that was courtesy of her father. She hadn't checked her phone since Sid returned to the table and she hadn't received Romeo's message questioning her whereabouts yet.

"Thanks for this, Dad" she said with a smile, before noticing the recognizable tall frame of her husband walking into the diner and after spotting her, walking over to their table.

"Hey guys" Romeo started to say as he reached the table, standing against the other side of the table in-between Indi and Sid, before Sid stood up and cut him off from talking.

"Congratulations mate" Sid said with a smile as he pulled Romeo into an awkward man-hug embrace.

"Uh thanks" Romeo replied as he pulled away once Sid's grip had loosened. "Is it alright if I talk to Indi alone?"

Indi's head pricked up as her attention changed from her brownie that she was still consuming, back to her husband as she took it as a sign that she should probably get up and go with him.

"Okay… Thanks for the brownie, Dad. See you back home" she said, saying goodbye to her dad and moving over to Romeo who lead her out of the diner.

Walking out, Romeo wormed his hand into Indi's as the two walked along together, stopping at a park bench on the grass that looked over the beach.

"I'm sorry that I just kind of walked off before, but the pressure was getting to me and I just needed to think."

She nodded. "So _did _you think?"

"Yeah I did. Watching the waves always helps me" he replied with a smile.

Pushing a piece of her hair away from her face that was nearing closer to her mouth, Indi looked over to him cynically. "Oh yeah? What did you think about then? Figure any miraculous solutions for us?"

Romeo nodded at his wife. "I think I might've, but for starters, I think we should treat this baby as bit of a fresh start for us, that way we're on a fresh page with a clean slate. We need to put everything that has happened in the past behind us, forgive each other for everything, move on from everything and try to be less focused on money because at the end of the day, it's only money. What is really important is our marriage and our child."

"Well I'm fine with that" she added with a smile from his evident commitment. "But what's your idea?"

"It'd be a bit full on..."

"What is it?"

Taking in a deep breath of air, Romeo turned to face Indi more and took hold of her hands. "Well it's going to take some self-sacrificing from us both, but how does it sound if you continued studying at Uni and still took some shifts at the diner when you normally would after your maternity leave and then you look after the baby at night."

Pleased with the fact that she wouldn't have to drop her studies, Indi nodded, but wondered where Romeo and the baby would fit into the equation. "And what about you and the baby when I'm doing that?"

"I'll take care of it during the day and do a couple of surf lessons when I can arrange someone else to look after it. You can look after it on the weekends if I have the odd comp."

Indi rolled her eyes with annoyance. "Great. So you slack around all day just looking after the baby, **still** leaving _me_ to be the bread-winner!"

"Yes and no. I'll look after the baby during the day but then I'll work at night. I'll ask Brax if he has any shifts I can pick up at Angelo's or something. Then we've still got more income than we do now."

With a nod and smile of approval, Indi gave her opinion of her husband's idea. "I'll think about it and make sure we're not missing anything vital, but at first thought it sounds like it might be a plan…"

A smile spread across Romeo's face, happy with the fact that it pleased his wife. "Good" he said in acknowledgement, stroking Indi's cheek as she moved inches closer to him on the bench.

"I love you, you know?" he added and as Indi neared even closer to him, he her wrapped his arm around her shoulder with his arm looped the whole way around her waist.

She nodded, relaxing her head against him, enjoying the relaxing setting before he continued to speak. "And you know I love this baby too, right?"

Again she nodded against him and he kissed her cheek in reassurance. "Good."

#

Back on the Walker family farm, Dex had just gotten home with his youngest sister, but the events from earlier that day were still puzzling him.

"Hey Sash? Have you noticed anything strange about Indi recently?" he asked wondering whether she had any more input that might help his confusion.

Looking up from her English homework that the 15 year old was diligently working on at the dining room table, she shook her head. "Not really, no. Why?"

Taking a seat across from her and slapping his hands down on the table, Dex began to explain. "Well, I saw her and Romeo at the hospital this afternoon and they said Romeo was getting injections, but a couple of minutes later the doctor called out _Indi's_ name, not Romeo's."

"Big deal, Dex! You're probably _way_ over-complicating things!" Sasha responded strongly, her acting skills being put to good use as she realized that she probably knew the reason why the two were at the hospital together.

"I know, I know, but what if she's sick, Sash?" he added, before letting out a gasp and getting up from his seat. "Cancer; she must have cancer! Oh god, what if she hasn't got long to live?"

The worried brother paced around the room in fear of the outcome that he'd jumped to the wrong conclusion about. "I feel so terrible now… I've been teasing her so much. What if that's all that she remembers about me? 'My-annoying-little-brother-that-I'll-be-glad-to-get-rid-of'! I feel so bad!"

Sasha stifled a laugh as the 'drama-king' processed his worries at the speed of light. "Calm down Dex."

"NO! I refuse to calm down. I have to make it up to her! I don't want her dying and thinking of me badly!" Dex insisted as he continued pacing around the room.

"She hasn't got cancer!" Sasha practically yelled at him before laughing as he stood still on the spot.

Giving her a cynical look and crossing his arms, Dex was still marginally worried, but decided to listen to what she had to say. "How do you know? What's wrong with her then? Tonsils? In-grown toe nail? Infection?"

Hesitantly, Sasha let her sister's cat out of the bag. She wasn't supposed to say anything, but if it prevented Dex from having a panic attack then surely Indi would understand…

"Man alive – for a nurse, you're terrible at diagnosing! She's having a baby."

With shock, he flopped down onto the lounge that was behind him. "You have _got_ to be kidding!"

The youngest Walker shook her head in Dex's direction. "Nope."

"Wait a minute… How do you know? Why haven't they told me?" he asked as his relief that his sister was healthy turned to annoyance.

"I found out on accident. I'm sure that you would've been told soon enough. It'd be a hard thing to hide… Oh and you didn't find out from me by the way. I wasn't supposed to say anything."

He nodded. "Okay, but remind me not to ever tell you any of my secrets…"

#

Later that night when Romeo and Indi finally made their way back home, neither of them knew that Sasha had already told Dex so the two got quite a surprise when moments after they opened the door and walked in, Dex came barreling over to them.

"Why didn't you tell me? I'm your brother! I should've been one of the first to know!" Dex questioned Indi as she looked back at him with confusion.

"What are you talking about now?"

Romeo walked over to the table and sat down next to Sasha, deciding to leave the older two siblings to fight. He couldn't really be of much help to Indi considering the fight was just about pride and mix ups. "You're having a baby! Why didn't you tell me? First you're wedding, now this? Are you subtly trying to disown me?"

Indi's gaze shot over to her dark-haired sister smiling innocently at the table. "Sasha! You weren't meant to tell him yet!"

She shrugged. "Sorry. It was either tell him or let him give himself a heart attack thinking that you had cancer…"

"What?" Indi asked, weirdly looking over at Dex now.

"I jumped to the wrong conclusion when I saw you guys at the hospital and when I found out you lied about Romeo needing injections… My bad. So, were you guys just there to check up on the baby?"

Indi nodded and Dex's questions continued. "Did they do a scan? How far are you? Could you see it?"

"Yeah. I'm about 8 weeks but we still got some pictures of it from the scan."

Hearing that caught Sasha's attention, re-joining the conversation. "Ooh! Can I see it?"

Indi nodded again, this time at her sister as she retrieved two postcard-sized black and white photos that were in her handbag which was still swung over her shoulder.

Handing the photos over to Sasha who examined them closely, prompted Dex to walk over from where he was standing in the middle of the room, still slightly shocked as he looked at the photo of the tiny blob that also caught Romeo's attention as he glanced over to see the photo again which was in Sasha's hands, smiling at his tiny creation.

"I can't decide whether it looks more like an alien or a jelly-baby. It looks like something that was produced by Natural Confectionary!" Sasha exclaimed, turning the image to look at it from different angles.

Hitting her shoulder with an playful, but offended pout, Indi objected. "Hey! That's _my_ baby you're talking about!"

"Are you sure about that? It looks like it belongs to an axolotl more than you guys…" Sasha stated with a laugh as Dex's head zoomed in closer to the photo.

"Actually, I agree with you Sash, just this once, but it looks like an alien… Must be Romeo's genes" he laughed as _his_ shoulder got hit from Indi this time.

As Dex grumbled about how the hit was unnecessary, Indi took Romeo's hand and with a tug to pull him up from where he was sitting at the table. "Come on hubby, I've got that test that you can help me revise for."

Letting his wife drag him away, he muttered under his breath sarcastically. "Yay… Sounds like great fun!"

Before leaving the room together, Indi turned back to Sasha with a stern, pointed finger. "Oh, and you, Miss Blabbermouth, for telling Dex you can cook dinner tonight."

"But it's your turn…" she whinged.

Indi smirked with her arms now crossed. "Too bad. That's how you can make it up to me."

Letting out an unhappy sigh, Sasha got out of the seat and walked over to the cupboard. "Fine. We'll have baked beans and toast if you're lucky."

Simultaneously, Romeo, Dex and Indi all groaned knowing that Sasha wasn't joking and her threat was more than likely what would end up on their plate…

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry that it took me so long to update this, but I had a bit of writers block and I've had SO many essays all at once with school which isn't that great either, but hey, at least it was a really, really long chapter for you! Anyway, I'm hoping that Chapter 6 will be up MUCH sooner! But until then, let me know what you thought of Chapter 5! I really, really, really appreciate you guys reviews! :D<strong>

**Next chapter: **

_**# Indi experiences a big con in her pregnancy.**_

_**# After Indi helps another member of the bay, she strikes up an unlikely friendship with them.**_


	6. Chapter 6

**I'd just quickly like to say thank you to the two reviewers of the last chapter: **

**- blitzholly (and for all your reviews on the other chapters too! Huge thank you to you!) **

**and: **

**- gabisamore**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6 -<strong>

A couple of weeks passed in the Walker/Smith household and life carried on normally for all of them, with no significant highs or lows achieved in any of their lives. This included Indi whose pregnancy continued without any major complications, nearing closer and closer to the end of her first trimester.

However, one morning Indi woke up realizing that her body and her baby weren't about to let the opportunity to torture her pass, despite her recent bordering on bragging that she was lucky enough to not experience morning sickness.

Bolting up and racing out of bed, Indi ran to the toilet with one hand clutching her stomach and the other tightly pressed to her mouth.

"What's the rush?" Sasha questioned as she watched her sister's record-time sprint, nearly knocking her over in the hall on the way past. Seconds later she heard the unmistakable sound of vomiting and Sasha added a knowing "Oh…" before calling out to their Dad.

Sid came out from the kitchen to see what his youngest daughter wanted. "What, Sasha?"

"Indi's sick… you're the doctor" she said pointing disgustedly to the bathroom as the noise of vomiting prompted Sid to leave immediately, following in the path that Indi had raced to the toilet on.

Walking in, Sid instantly pulled back his daughter's loose dirty-blonde hair that she was struggling to keep away from her face while she was busy with uncontrollably emptying the contents of her stomach.

Sitting up straighter, convinced that she was finished, Indi took a piece of toilet paper to wipe her mouth with while Sid soothingly rubbed her back for her.

"Thanks Dad…I'm sorry" she apologized as she leant against the wall closest to her.

"It's fine; just a bit of morning sickness. There's not much you can do to avoid it now unfortunately. Just try to rest."

Indi nodded, using all of her energy to get up and make her way to lie down on the lounge.

"You okay?" Dex asked as he prepared his milk and cereal for breakfast.

"Yeah, just brilliant" she replied with sarcasm.

Not only was Indi annoyed and still feeling ill from the lingering sick feeling, but she also felt robbed, considering that she was still meant to be enjoying a sleep-in this morning, with her first class of the day only starting at 11. In addition, she was also marginally annoyed considering that Romeo had left early that morning, around 5 AM, to catch a few waves with Ruby before he began working for the day, accidently waking her up in the process which was another half an hour of sleep that she'd lost.

Dex backed off, recognizing his sister was in an understandably moody mood, but he didn't especially feel like putting himself in the firing line on purpose, so he figured that just continuing to eat his breakfast and mind his own business would be a good idea. However, a few minutes later when he was just finishing the last few pieces of cereal and was yet to drink the milk, he was totally put off the meal as Indi ran out of the room again like she had earlier that morning, which was followed by the noise of more retching.

"Great way to start the day…" Dex said sarcastically as he tipped out his remaining breakfast.

"Give your sister a break. I'm sure she's feeling a lot worse than you are" Sid reasoned, taking sides with his eldest child, understanding how awful morning sickness could be not only from his ex-wife's own experiences but also after so many years of doctoring pregnancy-knowledge.

Dex let out a sigh. "You'd be surprised… You know how bad I can get without my sufficient breakfast."

"No-one's forcing you not to eat, Dexter."

Making the noise of a game show buzzer, Dex disagreed with Sid. "Eeee! Wrong answer! I'm blaming my future little nephew or niece for my morning starvation today… Oooh, I could even go down through the line of causation and blame Romeo & Indi, and then I can go through to blaming you and mum as well as Romeo's parents for it! Wow, I never realized what a good case I have going for my starvation! I should get our lawyer onto this…"

Sid rolled his eyes at his son's rambling rants as Indi walked back into the lounge room, looking green.

"I'm suing you, Indi!" Dex announced as she lay back down on the lounge.

"What are you on about now, Dex?"

Commenting before Dex had a chance to explain, Sid assured her not to worry about her brother's antics. "Don't listen to him. He's just babbling about nothing again. Now try and relax – that should help with calming the vomiting, but are you going to go to Uni today?"

She shook her head. "Nah, as a once-off I'll give it a miss but I might text Emma to take some notes for me."

"Okay. Would you like me to stay with you or do you want me to call Romeo to come home or anything?" he questioned, getting another head shake from Indi in response.

"No, don't worry about it. I'll be fine."

"Okay. We've all got to go now, but if you need anything, just call any of us, okay?"

She nodded as Sasha & Dex left the house, poking each other out the door, before Sid grabbed his bag and started to leave. "Hope you feel better soon."

Giving her Dad a grateful, but feeble smile as he left, Indi clutched onto the closest pillow on the lounge and closed her eyes, managing to drift off and go back to sleep…

#

Awakening later that day after multiple knocks at the door, Indi groggily got up from the lounge and after realizing she was still only wearing her pyjamas she quickly grabbed her dressing gown from her room, wrapping and tying herself in it before answering the door.

"Casey, hi" she said, opening the door to the unexpected visitor who was looking down at the ground, clutching a notepad and pen before he looked up at her.

"Hey, is Dex home?"

She shook her head. "No he's at work, sorry. Why?"

"I was supposed to pick some of his old History notes up from him. He said that he should've been home today."

Indi cringed. "Oh… sorry Case, I think he's doing a fill-in this morning and he probably just forgot to tell you. But, um, I'll check if he's left the notes out lying around in his room somewhere for you" she said, walking back into the house, signaling for him to follow her inside.

As Indi entered her brother's room and began her search through the superficial papers on her brothers desk and at the end of his bed, Casey stood under the door-frame awkwardly, not quite sure what to do. "So where's everyone else?"

"Romeo's surfing or working, I can't remember which one; Dad and Dex are working and Sasha's at school. Wait, why aren't you at school too?"

"I've got no lessons till after lunch today. Any sign of those notes?"

She shook her head as she stood up. "No. Sorry. But if you give me a couple of minutes, I can dig up some of my old notes from the year before last if you want?"

"Um, yeah okay… They should do the trick" Casey replied as he flicked through a novel that was on top of Dex's cupboard as Indi left the room, moving to her own bedroom - the next room down the hall.

Searching though the bottom drawer of her dresser and through her old school books that hadn't been touched in about 18 months, Indi made a mental note to clear out the hoarded books as she pulled out her old history exercise book that was stuffed full of loose sheets, just as an unexpected wave of nausea hit her again for the third time that day.

Moving away from the drawer, she leant her head against the mattress of her bed, willing for the feeling to pass and not to take action against her stomach that she had thought was already completely empty.

Getting up and running to the bathroom _again_, Frisbee-throwing the book at Casey as she ran past Dex's room, Indi learned that no, her body still hadn't learnt to obey her wishes.

Throwing up into the toilet bowl, Casey followed her, knocking on the wood of the open door once she'd finished. "You okay?"

"I think you should probably go. You can lend the book and just return it when you're done" she managed to say weakly before getting up and returning to the couch like she had done earlier that day.

"Are you sure? Cause no offence, but you look terrible. I can just keep an eye on you and go through the notes here."

"Do whatever you want. I don't care right now" she murmured into the pillow as she dug her head deeper and deeper into it for some sort of relief from the sickness.

Casey grabbed the exercise book that had been thrown at him, along with his notepad and pen that he had brought, putting them on the table before making himself at home and turning on the kettle.

Getting started on going through the notes, Casey took a quick break to make a cup of tea once the kettle had boiled, before taking it over to Indi and placing it on the coffee table next to her.

"Drink up. Tea helps my brothers when they're hung-over or plastered or whatever."

Taking more effort than she realized, Indi lifted her head up with difficulty, before taking the cup and slowly drinking a few sips of the hot liquid.

"Thank you" she said softly before laying back down again, feeling herself uncontrollably fall back into a much-needed sleep.

Looking over momentarily at the already sleeping Indi, Casey returned to the notes, jotting them down, which he continued to work efficiently on.

#

When he returned home to the farm that day after having left extremely early that morning for a surf before work, Romeo wasn't anticipating anyone else to be home, expecting that Sasha would still be in school, Dex and Sid would be working and Indi would be nearing the end of her class. However, unlocking the front door and walking inside, he was surprised to see his wife sprawled out asleep on the couch and Casey Braxton sitting at the dining table with his head in a book.

"Hey mate" Casey said looking up as Romeo tried to work out what he'd missed and gotten wrong.

"Hi... What's going on?"

"I'm getting some stuff from Indi's notes and she fell asleep about an hour ago" Casey said, pointing over to Indi and putting the lid back on his pen, having basically finished writing down everything that was relevant, just getting extra notes now.

Acknowledging Casey with a nod before walking over to the couch, Romeo gently pressed a kiss to the top of Indi's hair, being careful not to wake her.

"I'm awake, Romeo… I just can't be bothered moving" she said through the mop of hair that was covering over her face, surprising both of the boys.

Brushing the hair that was in her face away, Indi squinted as her eyes adjusted to the bright light that now hit her blue orbs.

"Anyway, I'll leave you guys to it. Thanks for letting me use those notes" Casey said after noticing that the two were starting to get all couple-y, as he grabbed the notes that he'd taken today, leaving Indi's book on the table and exiting the house.

Moving her legs from taking up the space of the whole couch, so that Romeo could sit, Indi half-sat up but was still leaning against the back of the lounge and as Romeo sat down, he pulled Indi into his arms.

"Are you okay? I thought you had a class" Romeo asked as he brushed his hand up and down her arm.

"Yeah, I was supposed to, but morning sickness decided to hit for the first time today so I didn't go" she said, looking up at him.

"That's no good… Are you feeling alright now?"

"Sort of, it comes and goes."

Tightening his grip on her, he started rubbing her back. "Good thing that you married the spew master then."

"The spew master? Huh? What do you mean? That's kind of gross…"

"Well me and Mink both have a lot of experience with it from our mum… We were the ones that would have to deal with all of her alcohol-related sicknesses, hangovers and morning's after wild nights of binge-drinking and being drunk" Romeo explained with a sigh. "Oh well, at least it means that I'm more experienced for you now!"

She laughed at him. "I knew that there had to be a reason that I married you… Even if it is because you're the self acclaimed 'Spew Master'."

"Are you mocking me?" Romeo asked, trying to look serious and firm with a pointed finger at her, but he was unable to keep himself from smiling.

"Of course not! I'm just being a good wife and agreeing with you!"

"Yeah, yeah…" he laughed, before leaning down to the level of Indi's face and kissing her.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry guys, this chapter's a bit shorter, but I sort of started running out of ideas of what to do half-way through the chapter. Still want to know your thoughts on it, regardless! Also, how great was tonights episode? Big yay for a bit of Romeo &amp; Indi like they were in the good old happy days! <strong>

**Next Chapter: **

**x Romeo & Indi make a trip down to the city to catch up with Nicole & Angelo. **

**x Romeo pushes Indi to see her Mum again. How will things between them be this time? Will it continue to improve or will they start right back at the beginning all over again? **


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N - Just a quick authors note. This chapter's dedicated to Miss Jacinta cause the second half of this chapter is pretty much inspired by her extreme LOVE for Romeo & Nicole. Me? Not so much. I just think they're really cute friends and border very closely to a brother/sister relationship, nothing coupley. **

**Thank you to: **

**# dunbar97  
># gabisamore<br># blitzholly  
># livetodiscover<br># Chelsayy  
># LeahandBrax20 <strong>

**... For all of your lovely, lovely reviews on the last chapter! For those that commented on it, I thought I'd say that I want to continue the Casey/Indi friendship which has barely been explored at all on the show and if I remember right, Lincoln and Samara have only ever had like 4 scenes where they talk to each other!**

* * *

><p><strong>C<strong>**hapter 7:**

"Surry Hills? Bondi? The airport?" Indi asked, attempting guesses of different possible locations as she looked out of the car window while the couple drove through Potts Point in central Sydney, just having driven off the Sydney Harbour Bridge a few minutes beforehand.

"Wrong, wrong and wrong" Romeo smirked, looking straight ahead at the road in front of him before indicating and changing lanes.

Indi groaned. "I'm still wrong? That's your cue to tell me where we're going then!"

The current discussion which was on the brink of transforming into an argument had been going on for about the last hour… The whole drive from Summer Bay, all the way down through the Northern Beaches area to the City where they were currently.

What Indi knew was that her and Romeo were going to meet Nicole, George and hopefully Angelo out for lunch at Angelo's café in Darling Harbour, but what Indi didn't know was what Romeo's hidden plans and where his destination was for until that time… And she didn't like it. All she knew is that they had to hurry otherwise they'd be left them with no time before the lunch plans, because he had wanted to leave earlier that morning, but his plans were delayed slightly due to having to allow time for Indi's routine bout of morning sickness to pass over.

She liked the _concept_ of surprises, but for some reason, the wait before a discovery and the being kept in the dark factor just didn't seem like it was worth it to her.

However, still refusing to cave in to his wife's nagging, Romeo continued smirking, finding slight pleasure in _just_ how much it was annoying her.

"Please Romeoooo!" she pleaded, shaking the top of his arm softly, but enough to make her point while being cautious of the fact that he was driving.

Shaking his head insistently, he continued to not give in. "No. Now stop trying to convince me. It won't work."

"Come on! Tell me! Or I'll… I'll hide your surfboard from you!" she laughed.

"Way to hurt a guy!"

"Not good enough? I'll leave little 'I love you' notes around the diner and caravan park for Colleen, signed by your name."

He scoffed with amusement. "Heck. I think that's divorce worthy, you know…"

Scratching her hair, Indi let out a pondering "Hmmm… Well that's not the best idea then…" as she continued to try and think of a good enough threat for Romeo to give in. "Thy shall speak Shakespearean for as long as it takes for thou to tell wife wherefore art thou Romeo of Summer Bay is taking us..."

He laughed. "Nice try, but if you keep going at this rate, you might drive me to commit suicide before we get to your mums!"

It took both of them a moment to analyse in silence before Romeo slapped his head on his forehead, laughing at his self-annoyance while Indi realize that he had spilled the beans before she started clapping with excitement. "Oh, yay for me!"

"I can't believe I just did that! Do you have any idea the lengths I went to find her number, call her and drive a different way so that you couldn't tell where we were headed from the route - just so that it would be a surprise for you?" he questioned, but not expecting an estimated time guess as an answer.

She shook her head with a giggle. "No I don't know. How come you didn't just tell me? Besides, I need my time to consider whether I'm in the mood for being annoyed at her or whether I want to continue reconciling with her."

"That's exactly why I _didn't_ tell you. I knew the more time I gave you to know that we were going to visit her, the more excuses you'd work at trying to come up with to avoid us seeing her before we meet up with the others."

The relationship between Indi and her mother was mutually a lot, lot better than what it was a year or even two years before this point, after Jodi's betrayal of her daughter when she stole Indi's boyfriend from her, which was the initial prompt for Indi and Dex to return to Summer Bay with their father, Sid.

The last time that Indi had seen her mother was several months ago, when she needed some time away from Summer Bay, some time away from Romeo and some time away from their bank account that had two thousand dollars missing, somewhere with her husband's tear away older sister, Mink. Things had been awkward, better, but still awkward while Indi had stayed with her, but on the upside, it was still a gradual increase considering it was only the second time she'd seen her in two years before her mother had turned up wanting forgiveness, just months earlier.

Turning her head to look out of the window in an attempt to identify where they currently were in relation to her mum's house, Indi sat silently, a little bit annoyed that Romeo purposely hadn't told her or prepared her, but she was also a little bit excited about catching up with her mum again. Before the whole boyfriend incident which Jodi had to pay the price for by missing out on many significant moments of both Indi and Dex's lives, they'd been close and a part of Indi missed that.

"You're not too angry at me, are you?" Romeo asked, watching Indi shake her head out of the corner of his eye. "No. It'll be good to see her again."

Romeo smiled, but continued to drive, having been concerned that he would be the receiver of silent-treatment and death glares until the couple reached the suburban home.

#

Within the next 15 minutes, Romeo and Indi had reached the suburb of Redfern, where after navigating through a few streets, they parked across the road from the home that Indi recognized from her one or two visits, but which was a new destination for Romeo who'd never been to his mother in-law's house previously.

Walking up to the front door, Indi was a few steps in front of Romeo, enthusiastically pressing the door-bell before he had come to a halt next to her, where the two continued to wait for a few seconds.

"Hi! Come in!" Jodi instantly said, greeting them cheerfully as soon as she opened the door.

Brushing the bottom of her gladiator sandals off on the door mat, Indi walked inside first where her mum threw her arms around her for a lengthy hug as Romeo hovered behind them, still outside until they finally pulled out of the hug after what felt like a lifetime to him.

"Hello Romeo, thank you so much for going to the effort to arrange us all meeting up" she said as Indi walked inside, further through the house as Romeo was greeted upon entering the house.

"My pleasure" he returned politely before following behind as the two girls walked through to the kitchen.

Taking consecutive seats next to each other on the black leather back-less barstools in front of the kitchen island that overlooked the kitchen ahead and the backyard through a big bay window to the left, Romeo and Indi got comfy, Indi doing a slow 360 degree spin on her seat as Jodi opened the fridge door.

"Would either of you like a drink? Juice? Coffee? Tea? Soft-drink? Wine? Water?"

Looking over at each other sub-consciously for no reason whatsoever before they answered, Romeo nodded as Indi spoke before he did. "Can I have a juice?"

Jodi nodded, looking over to the only man in the house. "Sure. What about you, Romeo?"

"Just water, thanks."

Pouring the two drinks before inviting the couple to sit outside under the pergola, the three re-located to the backyard, but this time all of them sat down before Jodi clapped her hands on her lap to break the slightly awkward silence. "So tell me, how have you been? How's Dexter? Your father?"

"We're fine and they're good. Have you heard about Sasha?" Indi replied.

Jodi looked at her daughter vaguely, repeating the name slowly. "Sasha… I think your dad mentioned something to me about her… She's his other child, right?"

"Yeah, that's the one" she responded as Romeo sat back in his seat. "She's been living with us for the last six months or so."

"Okay, how old is she?"

Rubbing her hands together awkwardly, Indi looked away, not realizing how uncomfortable this must've been for her mum, hearing about the product of one of her ex-husband's affairs during their marriage. "She just turned sixteen. Anyway, what about you? How have you been?"

"I've been great. I love it here. And I've just started seeing a very lovely man. I want you and Dexter to meet him sometime soon" Jodi smiled, speaking with her Greek-accent slightly more evident as she spoke more and more and at a faster rate.

Indi crossed her arms in front of her chest with annoyance as a bit of a self-defense mechanism, with a pout. "Is he older or younger than me and Dex this time? Or have you just decided to recycle one of my old boyfriends again this time too?"

It was obvious that Jodi had hit a nerve for her daughter, with the hurt of the past being dug up again for the first time in this visit. However, Indi's hurt translated to attitude and anger which her mother didn't know how to deal with as her cheeks flushed and she bit her lip.

"Indi…" Romeo warned sternly from alongside of her, realizing that the snarky comment had evidently hurt both of the girls.

"No" she stated, looking at him with a firm but short glance before getting up from her seat and walking back inside.

Romeo and Jodi sat in an awkward, motion-less silence for a few minutes before he stood up and she finally spoke. "If she listens, tell her I really am sorry." Romeo nodded before walking into the house, looking inside a few of the unfamiliar rooms that were open before deciding to look out the front yard of the home after having no luck.

Outside, he almost instantly noticed Indi sitting in the car, sulking with her arms still crossed. Walking over and opening the car door which resulted in no reaction whatsoever from Indi, not even a flinch, Romeo leaned against the door and roof, facing her.

"What just happened in there? What was with the rude comment and freak out?"

Silence.

"Come on Indi, don't ignore me… I'm not the bad guy here!"

Indi rolled her eyes. "Give it 5 more minutes and she'd have her tongue down _your_ throat too – she likes to keep it in the family."

With a surge of anger and disgust, Romeo had to inhale a deep breath of air to help keep himself calm and to prevent himself from losing the plot at her. "Indi! You and I both know that that is not true! You're completely overreacting and blowing this out of proportion! I know that yes, she did have a fling with one of your old boyfriends but that is the past. I'm sure it's never, ever going to happen again – you need to trust that it won't or else you won't ever be able to move on from that."

Pausing and taking another breath of air before he continued, Romeo crouched down next to the car and gently pressed his palm on top of her thigh supportively as he softened his tone. "Listen... Everyone makes mistakes Indi, and unfortunately that was just a really big one for your mum that hurt you in the process. My mum has hurt me before too, you know? I worked so, so hard for so many years to help her and I did everything in my power to try and help her lose the booze, but all of my hard work and effort would just be thrown against the wall, time after time, as soon as things got too hard for her to handle and she just turned to alcohol without even giving it a second thought. Please don't be like her, bub. Please don't just give up and throw the towel in when things get hard…"

Wordlessly, after more silence that lasted nearly half a minute, Indi reluctantly held her hand out to Romeo which he took a hold of, before gently removing her from the car.

"Thank you…" he whispered, holding his arm around her back as they walked back towards the house. "You don't have to stay for long, but just apologize at least, and end things on a good note with her."

Knocking on the wood as a warning as they walked back in through the front door of the house that was still wide open, Romeo lead the way, directing them to the backyard again, as Indi sheepishly followed behind his tall frame, where Romeo had left Jodi prior to talking to her by the car.

Outside, Jodi was looking into the distance motionlessly with one of her hands covering her mouth, only looking up as she heard the footsteps of her daughter and son-in-law returning.

"I'm so sorry Indi. If there was _any_ way that I could take back what I did, I would. I didn't want to hurt you" she said, apologizing instantly.

Indi put up her defensive guard, crossing her arms in front of her again. "Well what _did _you want from it then?"

Jodi shrugged meekly. "I don't know. I really don't know. I know that it's no excuse, but I was just in such a bad place with your father's affairs and with you and Dex acting out, and I… – I was just so lonely. I didn't know what to do."

Noticing how small and helpless her mother was becoming from her diminishing confidence, Indi's eyes welled up and she abruptly walked over and wrapped her in a hug. "I'm sorry too… I shouldn't of said what I did before, but it just hurts, you know?"

Jodi nodded, holding her daughter tight, seizing the rare moment. "I would change things in a heartbeat if I could."

"I know..." Indi whispered as she pulled away. "You need to learn to forgive yourself, and I need to learn to move on…"

"How about I do you a deal; I'll promise to work on my half, if you promise to work on yours?"

Indi smiled slightly, nodding as she took a step back. "Deal."

#

Romeo and Indi had left her mum's house shortly after, leaving things between the two girls just as Romeo had asked her to – in a good place.

The next destination from there was Angelo's bar on Darling Harbour that Angelo himself had been managing and running since he, Nicole and George had relocated a little under a year ago.

After arriving there, Indi started 'Ooohing' at the impressive building from afar, noticing how similar, yet how different it was from the original Angelo's in Summer Bay. Then as they walked into the slightly larger building, the impressing continued, so much so that Indi was so caught up in her surroundings that she didn't even notice her best friend, Nicole, sitting at one of the grey matte coloured tables, watching George play with a toy in the highchair next to her.

"Hey Nic" Romeo said, smiling as soon he saw her, walking over and giving her a hug as Indi regained her focus again from where she was scanning the walls and roof of the open-room, before she squealed and ran over to Nicole, throwing her into an excited hug.

"It's so good to see you guys!" Nicole smiled, still clutching onto Indi before the friends eventually moved away from each other.

"You too, Nic! I feel terrible about how long it's been since we've caught up" Indi replied, returning the wide smile. The girls had emailed and called each other every few weeks since the others had moved away from the Bay and once or twice Indi and Romeo had visited Nicole at her apartment in the middle of the city, but they hadn't seen each other in person for several months.

The trio sat down, with Nicole sitting across from Romeo and next to George who was in the highchair, also alongside Romeo who had Indi on his right side, with her sitting diagonally across from Nicole.

"So how are things with you guys? How is everyone else back at the Bay?" Nicole asked perkily.

"We're reasonably good. Everyone else, well, depends on who you're talking about and which week you catch them on – there's always the good, the bad and the ugly" Indi shrugged.

"And let me guess - Romeo's 'the ugly' in that equation, right?" Nicole teased.

"Ha ha" Romeo said unamused with a roll of his eyes and a smirk. "Didn't take you long to get back into mocking me again!"

Nicole laughed pushing his shoulder from across the table. "Hey, I've had years of practice at it! Besides, you know I'm joking."

Kissing his cheek as a sort of confidence booster, Indi couldn't resist laughing at the two, who if she didn't know better, would've instantly assumed were brother and sister.

"How about you, Nicole? What's been happening in your life? How's Angelo?" Indi asked.

"You know - same old, same old. Angelo's great – I think he's working out the back right now but he said he's going to try and come in and say hi to you guys at some point."

Indi nodded with a smile before her attention was cast to the one year old sitting at the end of the table in his baby seat.

"And what about you, Georgie? I've missed you!" Indi cooed, reaching over to stroke the side of his head.

A year ago when Marilyn and Sid had adopted newborn baby George from Nicole, moments after he was born, Indi had instantly grown attached to her new baby brother that she would frequently help look after, and was crushed when Nicole had changed her mind and decided to take him back from her family to raise him herself. She still felt very close to the little boy and still thought of him as a baby brother.

Nicole watched the two interacting as Indi picked up Romeo's keys that were in front of him on the table and started jangling them in front of George, catching his attention as he giggled and tried to grab hold of the keys too. "Wanna hold him, Indi?"

She nodded enthusiastically and Nicole instantly unclipped him from the highchair, passing her son over the table to Indi who sat him on her lap and continued playing around with the keys to entertain George.

Romeo decided to join in too, but by trying to get George to give him a high-five, which he remembered Angelo demonstrating that he could do the last time they'd all caught up.

As Romeo started clapped after George's successful high-five with him, Indi continued to coo over the one year old, bouncing him on her lap playfully as Nicole just smiled and watched her closest friends and son together. "So have you guys thought about having kids anytime soon?"

That question moved their attention away from George, as Romeo and Indi looked up to each other in a glance of reading-each-other's-faces telepathy.

Romeo broke the awkward silence while glancing at Indi as Nicole looked on curiously.

"Uh yeah... Actually, we've done a little more than just _think_ about it for in around-6-months-time-soon."

Nicole looked at them cryptically for a moment before she realized what he meant prompting her to jump out of her seat, smiling as she rushed around to the other side of the table.

"Oh my goodness! That's so exciting! Congratulations!" she squealed as she wrapped Romeo in an excited hug firstly before pulling away and doing the same to Indi, but being careful not to squash George in the process, finally returning to her own seat, just as excited.

"I can't believe it! There won't even be two years age gap between our kids! How perfect is that? If you guys have a boy, then it can be best mates with Georgie and they can do sleepovers at each other's houses in the school holidays and stuff when they're, but if you have a girl, we can do a bit of an arranged marriage sort of thing and set them up together while they're young!" Nicole babbled on, gushing with excitement.

Romeo laughed. "Calm down Nic! We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, okay?"

Nicole nodded, still smiling widely. "Sorry! It's just that you guys are like my _only_ other friends well in fact, only other people my age that I know to have a baby too – I can't wait!"

"Yeah well you better we prepared for all my advice and questions that I'll throw at you over the next couple of months then!"

"Of course Indi! Anything that you need to know, just ask me" Nicole replied enthusiastically, getting a smile back from Indi.

There was a short silence before a loud voice came closer to them announcing "Hi guys!"

Looking up as Angelo sat down at the table next to Nicole, kissing her cheek as he sat, Romeo and Indi greeted him in the process.

"Hey you'll never guess what they just told me!" Nicole told Angelo, shaking his arm to get his attention.

"Hmmm… Let me guess… Indi's pregnant?" he asked feigning a pondering look.

Nicole looked at him skeptically. "How did you know?"

"I could hear you from all the way over there!" Angelo laughed, pointing to the bar on the other side of the room.

Nicole sheepishly giggled, before asking whether the others were hungry enough to order food yet, which they proceeded to do, spending many more hours together and making the most of the catch-up before they all went their separate ways and left.

* * *

><p><strong>I really don't like the ending for this one, sorry, but I couldn't think of anything better. Pretty please review and let me know what you thought! <strong>

**Next chapter: **

**# Colleen catches wind of the fact Indi's pregnant... Batten down the hatches people! **

**# A big blast from Romeo's past returns to the Bay. **


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 – **

7:00 AM struck the digital alarm clock on Saturday morning, immediately prompting the loud, not to mention annoying beeping to begin as soon as the digits changed from the minute before.

Beep, beep, beep, beep.

Letting out a long groan from the rude awakening, Indi thrashed her legs around under the sheets momentarily as she gained consciousness, before shoving her still sleeping husband multiple times in his side to wake him, and more importantly, so that he could switch off the alarm.

Awakening fully after the shoves in his gut, Romeo clutched onto his tender side as he rolled over to press the snooze button and cut off the sound, before rolling back over and resting his arm over Indi's waist.

"I don't want to get up…" Romeo mumbled into Indi's hair that was sprawled out around his face.

"And you think that I do?" she replied sarcastically as she shut her eyes again momentarily, still adjusting to waking up. "It's so warm here…"

A few minutes passed before he kissed the side of her head, just above her ear, as Romeo used all of his motivation and effort to psych himself into getting out of bed. "Come on, Indi. Up and at 'em!" he said in an attempt to be motivational, just getting a roll of her eyes in response.

As he walked out of the room to make himself breakfast first of all, he noticed Indi roll over as he left, before sitting up in bed.

"Morning Sid" Romeo greeted, walking into the kitchen where the older man was drinking from a mug, while reading the newspaper, looking up as Romeo walked over to the toaster, putting two pieces of fresh bread in.

"Good morning."

Leaning against the bench and watching over his breakfast from bird's eye view as it gradually browned, Romeo directed a question at Sid who had turned his attention back to the paper. "Are the others up?"

"Partially. I believe that Dex is still asleep and Sasha's on the phone to Xavier."

He nodded as his toast sprouted out from the toaster with a pop and he proceeded to grab the hot bread, quickly dropping it onto a plate before he grabbed the butter out of the fridge, as he heard the increasingly familiar sound of muffled throwing up from a few rooms away.

"I'll be back…" Romeo said with a sigh, as he immediately parted ways with his hot toast to rush off.

Letting himself into the bathroom, he quickly pulled back Indi's locks, forming the heap of hair into an untied ponytail before continuing to pull back loose individual pieces of her shorter layers of hair and then rub the bottom of her neck back and forth soothingly.

After a few more minutes of spasmodic, on and off vomiting, Indi finally stopped, retracting her head a little and sitting up straighter from her previously hunched over position.

"You okay? Want an ice-block?" Romeo asked, letting go of her hair, but tucking it back around her ears. Indi had tried a couple of things in an attempt to calm the morning sickness and so far, the only thing she'd found that had even remotely helped her to feel any better was lemonade ice-blocks, which had become a bit of a staple in the household for the last few weeks.

She nodded and Romeo stood up from his crouched position next to her, before holding his hand out and helping her gently stand up from the ground too.

Indi walked back into their room as Romeo went to the kitchen, walking back into their room shortly after, holding a white, rectangle shaped packet in his hand before placing it onto the top of the dresser where Indi was currently standing, spraying a cooling spritz over her face.

"There you go" Romeo mentioned, pointing to the ice-block wrapper from where he was standing behind her, before wrapping his arms around her from behind, placing his hands on her front and resting his head in the crick of her neck and shoulder.

"How many lessons are you doing today?" she asked standing there with him momentarily, knowing that she would have to get going and start preparing herself for the morning shift at the diner soon.

Romeo held her tighter as he talked into her hair. "I've only got two today. It's a bit of a slow day but-" he started to say, before stopping partway through a sentence, his hands noticing the oddly foreign feeling of a slight difference in her abdomen.

"Indi, can you turn around for a sec?"

Wondering what was going on and what was behind his sudden weirdness, Indi obeyed him, but skeptically watched him. "What's wrong?"

He stared down and analyzed his current focus point of her stomach momentarily, before pointing at it and filling Indi in on his strange pause.

"Maybe it's just me and my unobservant-ness, or was that not there yesterday?" he questioned, as he pointed to the noticeable protruding bump in his wife's usually flat stomach under the tight, white camisole under-top that she was wearing as a pajama top.

Looking down also, Indi quickly walked over to the closest mirror in their room to get a better look at the growth, letting out a soft groan, not liking what she saw, prompting her to immediately rest her arms in front of her stomach, trying to cover it up and hide it.

Noticing her abrupt melancholic mood change, he walked over to her, taking a hold of her hands, letting them drop in front of the two, worming his fingers in-between hers.

"Hey, it's okay… Don't worry about it. It's just a little baby belly – I actually reckon it looks cute on you" he said reassuringly with a smile.

"Thanks" she replied, before unlatching them from each other and walking out to the kitchen where Sasha, Sid and a half-asleep Dex were all currently.

"Morning…" Indi offered, to her family members that were all doing their own thing. Dex's head was laying on the dining table sluggishly with his eyes only half open, Sasha was reading a magazine on the lounge chair and Sid was putting papers into his work bag. Out of the three, Sid was the only one to return her greeting.

The two youngest didn't have work or school today, unlike the eldest three in the family. Sid was about to leave for his shift at the hospital and Indi could take her time to go into the diner, with her shift only starting later that day at 9am. However, Indi was going to go into town earlier with Romeo, whose first lesson was scheduled in for 8:30.

Sasha looked up from her magazine. "You're going to work, right? Can you bring me home a mango macaroon?"

Saluting her with a sarcastic cadet-like hand gesture, Indi replied "Yes Ma'am…", before walking back into her bedroom where her and Romeo swapped places as he walked out, still minus a shirt, but wearing his board-shorts instead of underwear, as Indi walked in to get dressed into her black tights and black singlet shirt for work.

After taking her time to get ready, she pulled another lemonade ice-block out of the fridge to consume in the car to help her lingering ill feeling from the morning sickness, Indi left for work with Romeo.

Driving through to Summer Bay from the Walker farm, Romeo parked the car in the car park between the beach and the diner, the ideal halfway point between the couple's jobs.

Kissing Indi goodbye, Romeo unloaded several surf boards out of the car to carry down to the beach, waiting for Clara, his first client of the day.

Walking in the opposite direction up to the Pier Diner, Indi walked into the bustling café, inhaling whiffs of all different variations of food, which wasn't welcomed well by her currently weak, morning sickness-influenced stomach.

Taking a deep breath, Indi quickly raced to the kitchen area, to grab a glass of water, hoping to calm her stomach before it lead to an undesirable public vomiting-fest.

"Good morning Indi!" Marilyn chimed chirpily, where she was spreading butter on a hot piece of raisin toast, before placing it decoratively on a plate and ringing the bell for whoever was on the waitress rotation in the café, possibly Roo or Leah considering Irene was manning the till and Colleen was making the occasional coffee and tea orders.

"Hi" she said fast, dropping her handbag in the corner, quickly grabbing a glass and filling it at the tap, before drinking it slowly and leaning against the preparation bench.

Inhaling another deep breath of air, Indi walked over and grabbed her apron, tying it around her waist, before talking to Marilyn. "So what do you want me to do? Tables?"

Looking out through to the dining area of the café with a smile, Marilyn nodded. "Yeah that'd be great. There's a few tables that need to be cleaned."

Indi grabbed the cloth and cleaning spray, walking over to the first table that caught her eye, picking up the dirty dishes, spraying and then wiping the table clean.

Carrying the plates back to the kitchen and repeating the previous actions several times before entering the kitchen once again to take a plate out to a table, the fumes from the cleaning spray and the rich, tomato-y fragrance of the bolognaise sauce that Roo was currently stirring as she stood next to Marilyn, tipped Indi's nausea over the edge as she bolted for the staff bathroom and vomited once again.

Cleaning herself up after the vomiting had came to a halt, Indi walked back out to the kitchen where Marilyn was looking at her with worry and Roo had moved onto loading the dishwasher.

"Are you alright sweetie? You look a bit off this morning. Maybe you should head back home and take the rest of the morning off…" Marilyn said comfortingly.

"No, I have to keep working. We really need the money right now."

Marilyn reluctantly nodded, but Roo butted in. "I don't think it's the best idea if you do continue. I'm sorry, but I don't want to take chances with contaminating customers by spreading germs, Indi."

Letting out an awkward laugh, Indi attempted to reassure her. "Don't you worry, it's not contagious."

"I don't think it's best to take chances. It could mean big trouble for the diner."

"Trust me. I can honestly guarantee you that it's not a bug."

Marilyn turned around from the sandwich that she was slicing in half while listening to Roo and Indi, letting out a slight gasp. "Oh Indi! Are you pregnant?"

Looking at Roo and Marilyn with uncertainty before she responded, Indi hesitantly confessed. "Um, yeah."

Instantly, before Roo & Marilyn had time to reply, Colleen barreled into the kitchen. "Oh how lovely! I knew it! I was telling Madge Wilkins just the other week that I didn't think it would be much longer before you and young Romeo heard the pitter-patter of a little one's feet!"

Laughing awkwardly again, slightly overwhelmed knowing that this would just be the beginning of Colleen's spiel, likely going through her 'eye-witnessing' of their entire relationship, through her own experiences, experiences of others and close to 100 mentions of her son, Lance…

Thankfully, however, Roo shooed Colleen out of the kitchen before it got to that point. "Oh leave the poor girl alone, Colleen! Customers are waiting."

"Wait till I tell Madge about this!" were her famous last words as Roo directed her back out to the till of the café.

Taking the plate that Marilyn had just finished preparing, planning to take it out and serve it before Roo and Marilyn stopped her.

"Congratulations Indi!" Marilyn smiled, pulling the younger girl into a short hug, patting her back quickly before they separated and Roo rubbed the top of her arm as a friendly gesture. "Yeah, Congratulations to you both."

"Thanks…" she said with an apprehensive smile.

"So how far along are you?" Marilyn asked curiously, riveted in absolutely everything to do with babies.

"Um, I'm three months" she said before changing her grasp on the plate. "I'll be right back, I'm just gonna take this out."

Walking out, and serving table number nine, she returned to the kitchen, having to alternate between answering questions, generally repeated, from Colleen and Marilyn, which she continued to do for the rest of her four hour shift that was beginning to feel more like forty hours…

#

Returning home later that day with her dad, Indi walked into her bedroom, putting her bag away before walking out into the lounge room where Romeo and Dex were playing a head-to-head game of Scrabble, with Sasha sitting next to Romeo, a dictionary in-front of her, obviously having taken the role of umpire as she texted on her phone.

Walking over to her siblings and husband, Indi placed the small, white paper bag from the diner in front of Sasha before leaning over Romeo, resting her chin on the top of his head, her arms slung over his neck.

"Where's mine?" Romeo asked, gesturing to Sasha's macaroon that she was eating teasingly in front of the other boys.

"And mine?" Dex added.

Indi shrugged as she scruffed up Romeo's hair out of boredom, continuing to watch the guys play. "You should've asked for it…"

Dex sulked, before laying out the word '_erinaceous_' on the board which Romeo disputed, asking Sasha to check it in the dictionary.

"You should know better than argue against Dex… It means 'to be like a hedgehog'" Sasha concluded.

"I wouldn't have known the word either… I just can't believe I have my very own little nerd playing Scrabble, though!" Indi said with a laugh, kissing his hair which she was now in the process of adjusting back to normal.

"Yoo-Hoo! Only me!" Went bellowing out throughout the house as the door opened and the four looked at each with pain, knowing who the unexpected visitor was.

"Colleen… Hi…" Indi said as Colleen toddled through the room, with Indi quickly filling her husband in of that morning's events.

"Warning… Colleen knows, so the whole town probably does too" she said in a quick whisper, with gritted teeth.

Making herself at home and taking a seat, Colleen placed her bag on her lap. "I thought I'd pop over and give you this myself. Be first in with the gift giving!"

Pulling out a wrapped present with a bow tied around it, Colleen merrily placed the gift on the table, sliding it over to Romeo and Indi. Romeo grabbed it and handed it over to his wife, in a sort of 'pass the bomb' manner.

Indi slowly unwrapped the present on top of Romeo's head with slight apprehension, before pulling out a tiny yellow unisex knit jumper.

"Oh thanks Colleen" she said, thanking her politely. "That's really nice of you."

"I made it myself."

"Wow, it must've taken you a while to make" Indi replied.

She nodded in definite affirmation. "It did, but I've made quite a number in my time and I've had it sitting there waiting to give you for quite a while."

Indi's head looked up in surprise. "What do you mean it's been sitting there for a while?"

"Oh I just made it about six months ago, waiting for your big announcement!"

Snorting in amusement, throwing her hand to her cover her mouth from her obvious need to laugh at the comment, Sasha bit her lip trying to hide her reaction and avoid looking rude in front of Colleen, but knowing that she'd have a field day teasing the two later that day.

Controlling his reaction better than his younger sister did, Dex sat there quietly with an amused smile, mouthing silently to Sasha across the table. "I'm so glad we're not them…"

"Um, well, okay" Indi said, her speech stumbling as she tried to recover from the embarrassingly awkward comment, before passing the jumper down to Romeo for him to see the item that they were talking about.

Looking at it, before placing it down on the table, Romeo thanked her too. "Damn! Too bad it's not for me!"

"Oh I can knit you one too! Just last week, I sent some over to Lancey for the winter" she said beaming with pride at her work.

Romeo laughed lightly as he politely declined her offer. "That's okay. I think I've got enough jumpers anyway…"

As Indi moved from where she'd been standing, to sitting in the seat at the end of the table, Sid walked in. "Hello Ms Smart. What are you doing here? Would you like a drink?"

"That would be lovely, doctor. I'll just have a chamomile tea."

Listening to the older woman's requests, Sid proceeded to make the beverage before she started gossiping about something else… a very different topic this time. "Oh did you hear that young Annie's back? Staying with Irene!"

"You mean Annie Campbell?" Romeo asked as his attention and interest was pricked while Indi's face dropped.

"Yes that's right, young Annie Campbell. Such a nice young girl, in fact she and her brother both were. Oh of course! How could I forget! You two used to be quite an item, didn't you? Even cooked up that romantic little dinner for her and everything!" Colleen said, rambling on and ultimately putting her foot in it.

Indi's paranoid worrying that Romeo was still in love with Annie had almost broken the couple up in the past once before… and that's while she was still in Japan!

Looking over at his wife who was noticeably tensing up, Romeo was starting to fear of the explosive repercussions and her reaction that could result from the dug up ancient history of the past, especially with the additional complications of the fact that his ex was back in the Bay and the fact that Indi had already been the recent victim of flooding pregnancy hormones.

"Um, excuse me but I need to go to the bathroom..." Indi said, stating her excuse, looking at Romeo sadly, before walking out of the room uncomfortably.

* * *

><p><strong>Abrupt ending again, sorry! How terrible was tonight's episode though? Things aren't looking good at all for them! :'( Nonetheless, let me know what you thought of the chapter!<strong>

**Next chapter: **

**# Romeo & Annie meet up with each other, facing the open-ended breakup and goodbye of their past relationship.**

**# After seeing Romeo talking to Annie, Indi confronts him, resulting in an angry fight between the two. **

**# Indi and the baby are put at risk. **


	9. Chapter 9

**Just a quick, but important A/N first to let you know that even though I'm loving writing this story, I'm considering stopping it because of the lack of interest in Romeo & Indi in the H&A fandom world and because of the fact that they've pretty much broken up onscreen. But because I'm enjoying writing this so much, I will be pursued to continue writing it if people want me to, so let me know what you think I should do...**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9 – <strong>

"You're doing heaps better out there, but keep working on making sure that you duck-dive underwater putting the correct pressure on the nose of your board and going under the waves when you're swimming out, otherwise you'll lose a lot of momentum and energy" Romeo said, commenting to his current client, pointing out to the waves for emphasis. "Jump back in and give it another go."

The mousy-brown haired, fourteen year old girl nodded, before running back out to the surf with her waxed up surfboard as Romeo walked a little further up the sand, to get a better view from afar, but not noticing someone else was nearby on the beach.

"Hey stranger" a voice called out, catching Romeo's attention from the familiarity as he turned to locate the owner.

Annie Campbell walked over to him, looking radiant and much older wearing a turquoise dress, compared to the last time that he'd seen her when they both had tears and emotions flooding over them as Romeo had ran through Summer Bay chasing Irene's car to say his final goodbye after a day's notice that his girlfriend was leaving him, and leaving Australia, breaking his heart in the process.

"Do I know you?" Romeo smirked with a faked quizzical look.

Annie laughed lightly, looking down at the ground as she did so before looking back up at Romeo. "Awkward. I was pretty certain we'd met. Maybe it was just a dream… nightmare, I mean.

"Ouch, that hurts Annie! You're a heck of a lot feisty than I remember! What have those Japanese been doing to you?"

Annie shrugged with a smile. "Besides, if I can recognize you when you're not in a school dress, then I'm pretty confident that you should be able to recognize me, right _Juliet_?"

"Hey! I wore that thing _one_ time and if I remember right, it was your idea" Romeo protested.

Annie shook her head. "Nope, it was Ruby's. I just _agreed_ with her…"

Romeo rolled his eyes with an amused smile.

"It's good to see you again, Romeo."

"Yeah you too… Klutz! How was Japan? Still love it? Were you okay in the Tsunami?" Romeo asked.

Annie's smiled widened. "Yeah I still do. The energy is just awesome over there. And where I was living wasn't affected by it, but I'm sure you would've loved riding _that_ wave."

Romeo nodded, looking out at the waves, remembering about the girl who he was supposed to be observing closely in order to critique and further her surfing skills and abilities, which he did for several minutes to make up for the time that he'd been distracted, before Annie spoke again, this time a lot softer.

"I see that you didn't then…"

"Huh? I didn't what?" He asked, looking over to her puzzled.

"Wait" she replied, gesturing to the wedding ring that was firmly planted on the second finger of his left hand.

Looking down at it, he apologized. "Yeah… I'm sorry about that Annie, but you know, we were just kids when I made that promise. Our interpretation of 'forever' was a week, maybe a month at the most."

"I know. By the time I'd landed in Japan I knew how unrealistic that was. Besides, it was my choice to make…" she said understandingly.

Romeo nodded before looking back out to the surfer that he should've been concentrating on, not Annie.

"So do I know your wife? What's her name?" she asked neutrally.

"Yeah I think you met her before I moved here… Indi Walker" Romeo said as a smile spread across his mouth.

She looked up at him surprise. "No way… Indi as in Dexter's sister?"

"That's the one."

"Wow. How's Dex going anyway? I didn't know that they were back here."

"Dex… well he's Dex. He could have a brain tumor or schizophrenia or something and we wouldn't be able to tell!" Romeo laughed.

Giggling at his description of him, Annie nodded. "Yeah well that's Dex for you!"

"So how's Indi anyway? She didn't end up with any permanent scarring or anything; did she?" Annie asked with concern.

He looked at her strangely. "Scarring? What do you mean?"

"You know, from the accident with the coffee table."

"I don't know what you're talking about…" Romeo confessed.

Annie bit her lip, realizing that she might've accidently put her foot in it. "When she fell through the glass table… Just before her and Dex left with their Mum."

"Indi fell through a coffee table?" he repeated in shock. "How did that happen?"

"Sorry, I assumed you knew, Romeo. I'm not a hundred percent sure what happened, but I think someone said that she was high, lost her balance, tripped and fell into the table."

Romeo stood there silently in shock, which Annie noticed and after feeling guilty and awkward, she attempted to change the subject and lighten the mood again. "So, anyway, how long have you been married?"

"It'll be a year in June" he said half-heartedly, still shocked by Annie's accidental revelation that she had assumed he knew about.

She nodded before they were interrupted by the young amateur surfer who came running in from the water. "So what did you think? Any tips?"

Romeo checked his watch before replying. "The lessons up, but like I said before, you're getting better. You just need to keep working on those duck-dives. Then when you do finally catch a wave, you'll have more focus and concentration rather than using your energy and effort up on being dunked by waves on the way out."

She nodded as she pitched the surfboard up horizontally in the sand, wrapping her towel around herself, thanking Romeo and paying him before leaving.

"You and your duck-dives, Romeo! Thanks to you and your brutal honesty though, I'm a master at them now!"

"Yeah… Now I just need to improve your co-ordination on the land and then you're all good!"

She laughed at him as he checked his watch again, making another connection with the time.

"It was good catching up Annie, but I'm supposed to be meeting up with Indi for lunch in like five minutes so I better get going. Seeya round" he said with an awkward wave, before walking up from the beach towards the Diner, where Indi was already sitting on one of the chairs at the matching white plastic table.

Unbeknownst to Romeo, Indi had been watching the two from afar, scrutinizing every single movement, gesture, reaction and smile, with her already present stress being highlighted and maximized as anger and jealousy started swelling up within her.

"Hey" he said cheerfully as he saw that she was already waiting, walking up to her, kissing the top of her head as he sat down next to her.

"I hope you and bubs are hungry, because your hardworking husband can afford us a bit of a treat today with this fresh moolah!" he added, as he pulled the yellow fifty dollar note and blue tenner out of the pocket of his board-shorts, not noticing the death stares that he was on the receiving end of.

"So how's _Annie_?" she asked bitterly, ignoring his question and saying her name like it was an undesirable germ.

"She seems fine. Apparently she still loves it in Japan" Romeo replied conversationally, not catching onto his wife's jealousy as of yet.

Indi rolled her blue eyes. "She should've stayed there then."

"Don't tell me that you're jealous now that she's back or that you think that _anything_ is going to happen between us…" Romeo asked, catching onto her negative attitude.

Gaining confidence as she crossed her arms, Indi replied. "I'm allowed to be worried, Romeo. I know what your track record and reputation is for re-bonding with your ex's.

Romeo scoffed, looking away in anger. "Not every girl is out to steal me, Indi! Ever consider that maybe _you're_ the one with the problem, not them?"

She gawked at him, his words not only offending, but also hurting her in the process. "Well maybe I wouldn't be so jealous if your actions didn't cause me to feel the need to constantly have to worry about you and your faithfulness to me!"

"I can't do anything about what's happened in the past Indi. We've just gotta focus on trusting each other now, and in the future. Nothing will happen between me and Annie. It was all a long time ago in the past."

"Well Annie's not really in the past anymore, is she?"

Rolling his eyes, Romeo remembered a piece of information that Annie had told him earlier that day which he could use as ammunition to make a point in their current argument. "Well what about you and the drugs? Why didn't you tell me about that?"

"Did she tell you that? I took a _tiny_ amount _once _when I was angry with Dad and Nicole! It happened so long ago in the past that I genuinely even forgot about it happening."

"In all honesty, I don't care that you tried drugs and I don't care that you didn't tell me, but don't you see my point about forgetting about things we've done and mistakes we've made in the past, moving on, leaving things in the past and not giving each other grief about what the other has done before? Trust me - I'm over Annie."

"Trust you? Like I trusted you with Ruby? I don't think so" Indi laughed mockingly.

Romeo's lips turned into a scowl. "Well how about you just ban me from having any association with all women, except you? Would that make you feel better? But yeah, I'd have to avoid Sasha and make sure we're never in the same room as each other at home, I would only be able to wait outside of the diner for you after work and I'd never be able to come in and see you, I'd only be able to go for walks or go surfing when there's only men around, oh and not to mention it'd screw my job, but hey, at least you might be happy then!"

Indi scoffed at him with disapproval. "You're impossible…"

"No, you are! You're being incredibly unreasonable! I mean, what do you expect from me Indi? I honestly don't know what I can do or can't do anymore without you getting all spoilt-brattish about it!" He questioned angrily, quite fed up with feeling like he was being choked by Indi's invisible chain.

"I just don't want you talking to Annie, Romeo. I don't trust her" she replied, with her voice sounding softer this time.

"Why not? You can trust me. I'm married to _you_ and I'm in love with _you_. Nothing is going to happen with Annie again."

"I wish I could believe that, but I don't even want to risk losing you to her."

"You're getting good enough at losing me all on your own. You don't need her help with that..." he shrugged, beginning to feel so angry that he was starting to numb himself from caring about what he said and did at the current time. "I mean, where is your trust in me? Where is the trust in our marriage, Indi?"

At the same time, her anger was beginning to boil over and evaporate all reasonableness and understanding that she had left in her after Romeo's comment that she was losing him on her own, not to mention that she herself didn't even know where theie trust in each other was, so she just changed topics, letting her anger do the talking. "Guess what? The couch is yours tonight."

"Fine then; in that case, I might not even bother coming home tonight then"

"Fine!" she yelled out angrily at him as he walked away from her, back down to the beach, as she stormed off in the opposite direction, up to the Diner.

Romeo went down to the beach to go for a surf in the attempt to calm himself, cool his anger down, sort out his head and forget about his big fight with Indi.

However, going to the diner, Indi wasn't due to start her afternoon shift at the diner for another hour, but decided to ask if she could work an hour earlier and then in turn finish an hour earlier so that she could set her mind onto something else now, calm down from their fight and get home earlier so that she would be able to start studying for her Marketing Exam that she had tomorrow which was stressing her out on top of everything else.

"Leah, is it okay if I work an hour earlier today?" Indi asked as she walked in and up to the front counter.

"Sure, I don't see why not. We can do with all the extra help that we can get right now" she replied, gesturing to the flat-out café which was just in the beginning of the lunch time rush hour.

She thanked Leah as pleasantly as she could, considering her currently fuming mood, before storming into the kitchen and tying the half body apron around her waist, which she loved wearing at the moment because of how unobvious it made her baby bump.

Walking over and checking the order slips before grabbing two plates off the counter, taking to them to the table that had ordered them Indi dropped them onto the table carelessly, resulting in a slam, which admittedly made her feel a bit better being able to let out her anger and frustration.

Repeating herself, grabbing another armful of plates from the kitchen and similarly slamming them down on the respective table grumpily, Irene questioned Indi, as she looked up at her with annoyance from the noise. "Be careful! What's your problem girlie?"

Indi ignored her, making it look like she just hadn't heard her as she walked back in to get more meals, taking them out to a table, walking slightly slower and not slamming the plates down as loudly as she felt her cheeks grow warmer, with the sensation of blood rushing to her head and her stomach churning similarly to the way it does when you feel nervous.

Walking back to the kitchen even slower and not feeling any better, in fact, feeling even worse, she touched the wall with open palms, holding onto anything that was the height of her hands for support as her neck began to feel weak, with her head feeling heavier than normal and her last thought and sensation was noticing that her legs felt like jelly, unable to hold her head up any longer as her world went black and she fell to the ground unconsciously, sending a ripple of gasps through the kitchen from her colleagues/friends.

* * *

><p><strong>Cliffy! What did you think? Any predictions? I found the Annie &amp; Romeo part a little bit hard to write cause I haven't seen any Romeo &amp; Annie scenes in like two years, since she left the show and all that I remember from before Annie left for Japan the first time is him teaching her how to surf and the ongoing klutz jokingflirting, then all I remember from inbetween her coming back and going back to Japan again was the Romeo & Juliet school play with Annie playing Romeo and Romeo playing Juliet. Hope it turned out okay anyway! Should I still continue this story?**

**Next chapter:**

**# Aftermath of Indi's collapse. Are her and the baby okay?**

**# Romeo rushes to be with her, but doesn't understand why Indi's pushing him away. **

**# Still being unresponsive to him, Romeo finds it hard when she won't confide in him and is further hurt after he sees Indi crying to someone else. **


	10. Chapter 10

**So thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and double thank you for encouraging me to continue writing this story. Anyway, for the time being, I have decided I'll keep going with it. Enjoy!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 10 – <strong>

Running out of the waves with a beaming smile, Romeo had almost completely forgotten about his fight with Indi and had been relieved of his tense mood that he'd felt overwhelmed with prior to his surf.

Sticking his board upwards in the sand and grabbing his towel from where it was sitting on the warm sand, Romeo moved his white thongs and phone that were sitting on top of it. Shaking his hair out and wrapping the blue and black towel around his wet torso, Romeo only noticed that his phone was receiving a call because the illuminated, vibrating object had caught his attention out of the corner of his eye.

Answering the call from Marilyn and not noticing the missed calls from both Roo and Sid also, Romeo held his phone up to his ear, cautious of his wet hair. "Hello?"

"Romeo! Where are you?" Marilyn answered, sounding slightly flustered.

Looking around at his surroundings in case it was a trick question, Romeo replied cynically. "Uh… I'm down at the beach? Why?"

"We've been trying to reach you for ages! Indi collapsed at work and Roo's taken her to the hospital."

Romeo's stomach dropped instantly as he grabbed his thongs and was rushing up to the car park from the beach within seconds. "Are you serious? Is she okay? What happened?"

"I'm not sure. We haven't heard back from Roo, yet" Marilyn sighed.

Opening the car door and throwing his items into the seat alongside him, before pulling the seatbelt over his chest and putting the keys in the ignition, Romeo confirmed the details with Marilyn before he planned to go speeding off. "So she'd be at Yabbie Creek, right?"

"I would guess so."

"Okay thanks Marilyn. Bye" he said before ditching his phone too and pulling out of the car park faster than he could ever recall having done before.

Fortunately for Romeo and all other drivers that were sharing the same road with him and his currently reckless driving, the drive from the Summer Bay beach to the Yabbie Creek hospital wasn't far, with the hospital only being around 10kms inland through the windy hills from the small coastal town.

Romeo jumped out of the car so quickly when he got to the hospital that he'd barely finished parking, hoping that the quicker that he would be able to get inside and the quicker that he knew Indi was okay, the faster that the pit of worry and guilt in his stomach would be gone.

Rushing in through the automatically opening doors, Romeo almost instantly bumped into his father-in-law just seconds after he entered the building.

Sid grasped the top of Romeo's shoulder, worrying the younger man at first before he realized as he spoke that it was just a means of slowing and calming him down on the spot.

"Calm down, Romeo. She's okay" Sid said reassuringly, which turned out to be of upmost assurance to him, knowing that if his wife's exceedingly overprotective, medically-educated father was telling him that she was okay, then he could trust that.

Nodding at him as he panted, catching his breath that he hadn't realized he'd lost. "Oh thank goodness. Where is she?"

Sid pointed to the room diagonal from the nurse's bay, which Romeo automatically connected to his last memory and visit of the room, the last time he'd been there with Indi which was to visit Ruby after she too had collapsed from treating her diabetes negligently after he had told her there was no chance they would ever be together just days after he'd made his mistake of spending the night with her.

Walking in, he didn't even bother knocking on the door, walking straight into the room to see Indi sitting straight up in bed, legs crossed and hands in her lap, looking as though she was daydreaming and looking into the distance.

"Hey" he said sheepishly, walking over to her and kissing her cheek before proceeding to stroke her arm. "Are you okay."

She nodded silently, only looking over to him momentarily before looking into the distance again, leaving Romeo to fear about his next question that he was almost too worried to ask about, knowing the high-likelihood risk of bad news, especially considering her unusual mood currently.

"Indi? What about the baby?" he asked softly, close to a whisper so that he could erase the question from existing at the outcome of a response that he didn't want to hear.

"They just finished running tests to check. The baby's fine, it's still there" she replied, leaning back on the pillows of the bed as her husband let out a sigh of overwhelming relief.

Pulling one of the chairs in the corner of the room over to the bed and sitting in it, he took one of Indi's hands clutching onto with both of his own as he gently kissed the top of it, before stroking it tenderly.

"So what happened? Why did you collapse?" he asked, holding her hand so close that she could feel his warm breath as he spoke.

She shrugged back at him silently again before explaining. "Not sure. They think that my blood pressure was too high but they haven't got all the results back from every test they did yet."

Romeo nodded, continuing to stroke her hand, but noticing that something wasn't quite right with her, and that her attitude toward him was much colder than usual. "Is there something else wrong?"

She shook her head unconvincingly, reclining further back on the bed. "Just tired."

Although he didn't believe her fully, he decided not to pressure her too much, realizing that she'd had a big day already and if her blood pressure was too high, then the last thing she needed was her husband questioning her too and prompting another fight.

"Relax then babe."

Releasing her hand away from his grasp, rolling onto her side and lying with her hands pressed under her head, she replied to him with gritted teeth. "I was _trying_ to, Romeo."

He didn't reply and she didn't say anything else as he continued sitting there in motionless silence for what felt like hours, but in actual fact it was less than 10 minutes later when Sid walked into the room, flipping through a couple of sheets of paper.

"Hi guys" he greeted, walking into the room and standing by the end of the bed Indi was in.

"Hey mate" Romeo replied, looking up at him as Indi mumbled a "Hi" too.

"The tests that Dr. Ryan did came back, Indi."

She turned over to face him in interest. "And?"

"And like we thought, it looks like you just had high blood pressure. It's nothing to worry about if it's a once off occurrence because you're fit and healthy and it was just transiently raised, but if you're exposed to too much stress and pressure, both you and the baby might not be so well off a second time" Sid explained.

Indi nodded at her dad. "So basically the only reason I collapsed was stress? That didn't affect the baby did it?"

"Yeah, nothing else showed up on the test apart from your B.P. You collapsed because of being stressed, but to protect the baby – being pregnant just complicated stress. Collapsing was your body's defense mechanism to look after the baby and shut down temporarily so that the stress stops before it got so bad that your body couldn't handle both at the same time and without stopping, your BP would get too high for the baby and would lead to a miscarriage."

Indi bit her lip in shock and regret, not realizing how much of a risk her usual stressed-to-the-max habits were for the health of her child.

Noticing her regret but feeling just as relieved that her collapse was thankfully only a warning of what would happen is she continued going the way she was, Romeo rubbed her back comfortingly. "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help you and anything I can do to take pressure off you, okay?"

"Mm-hm" she said, once again barely acknowledging him.

"Now, Indi, you have to take it easy for a week to ensure that your BP goes right down. I would recommend that you take a week off work and your studies. You mentioned that you have an exam or something at Uni in a few days, right? I can get a doctors certificate for you to exempt you or so that your lecturers can schedule you in to take the exam at a later date. You also might want to arrange for Sasha or someone else to take your shifts at least until the end of the week, if not for a full week" Sid advised, not only from a concerned medical perspective, but also as an overprotective father and prospective grandfather.

She let out a sigh. "Okay… I'll see what I can do."

Walking over and wrapping his daughter in a hug, Sid smiled. "I'm glad you're okay sweetheart. Had me worried there for a minute – you and junior both did."

Indi smiled at her Dad, before he walked out of the room again.

"Don't think that this changes the fact that I'm angry with you and Annie" Indi finally said after there was more silence in the room.

He looked over to her with slight shock. "Are you serious? Did you not just hear your dad? You need to relax! How good for you and the baby do you think it is holding some stupid, pointless grudge over a conversation I had? I know things got kind of tense between us in the fight, but it was just heat of the moment sort of thing. We were both trying to outdo each other with the hurtful and winning comments."

Tightening her lips, unimpressed, Indi looked away. "You want me to relax? That's easy. Don't talk to Annie again."

"Why? Do you honestly think that something is going to happen between us? Annie and I are so over that it's not even worth talking about it."

"Well why bother talking to her then?" she sniped back.

Standing up and starting to walk away, Romeo stopped momentarily. "You know what? This is ridiculous Indi! You nearly lost our baby today and it's like you don't even care! You're not even _trying_ to do anything to prevent that from happening! I know I can't control you, but I'm not going to antagonize you anymore cause at least that way I have the clean conscious of knowing that I've done what I can to help you both" he replied, before walking out of the room.

Lying down in the bed and turning her back away from the direction of the door with a sigh, Indi felt his words hit home as the truth that she was trying to push away and forget about wormed its way closer to her. She didn't want to face her actions and feel the guilt of knowing that because of her, their baby almost didn't have the chance of making its way into the world and experiencing the gift of life.

#

Romeo left the hospital and drove back into town. Noting how late that it was getting, he decided to drive to Angelo's and pick up some take away dinner for himself and for Indi that he could take back to the hospital for them with the plan of attempting to make amends again.

Walking through the Surf Club to go upstairs to Angelo's, Sasha was sitting at a table with Xavier, sitting close and sipping juices as they conversed.

"Hey" he said, walking over to his friend and sister-in-law.

"How's Indi?" Sasha asked genuinely.

"Physically, she's fine. Emotionally, I don't have a clue. She's barely talking to me" he admitted.

Sasha nodded, smiling over at Xavier distractedly before replying. "Alright. I've got the dinner shift at the diner soon, but I might pop in after that, depends if someone can drive me. Dex said earlier that her was going to see her too."

"Okay. Anyway, I'm just going to grab some decent food to take back for us" he replied, gesturing to the stairs that lead to Angelo's.

"Bye Romeo" she giggled as Xavier kissed her cheek. "Say hi to her for me."

"Seeya mate" Xavier added, before Romeo left, walking upstairs and over to the counter of the restaurant.

In the upstairs restaurant, Heath was punching numbers into the money till, looking between that and a big leather notebook that he was occasionally writing things into, with Casey standing next to him, folding out and shaping the cardboard boxes with the signature _'Angelo's'_ label for take-away pizzas.

"Hey Smithy" Heath said when he looked up from the till, noticing the younger man walking up towards them. "Congrats. I heard through the grapevine that you're gonna be a Dad too. Trust me; it's the best thing ever."

"Yeah, thanks. Had a bit of a scare with that today – Indi's in the hospital at the moment."

Casey stopped forming the pizza box that he was folding, looking up at Romeo with concern. "She okay?"

Romeo nodded. "Yeah, it was just a bit of a wake-up call."

"I bet it was. Anyway, what can I get for ya?" Heath asked as Casey resumed folding boxes.

"Can I just grab 2 takeaway lasagnas and garlic bread?"

Heath wrote down the order, "Uh-huh"-ing him, walking the slip of paper into the kitchen, before Romeo too walked off, taking a seat at one of the tables closest to him and waiting for the meal…

Close to half an hour later, Brax had emerged from the kitchen holding two disposable plastic containers filled with food. "Sorry for the wait. One of the cooks had a bit of an incident and it took longer than usual - it's on the house."

"Thanks."

"Pleasure mate" Brax replied, starting to walk off, before Romeo remembered something and stopped him before he'd gone too far.

Romeo had remembered that he'd mentioned something to Indi about trying to ask Brax if there's any jobs going at Angelo's as a second, more stable job in addition to surfing and surf classes. Especially after today with Indi, Romeo figured that the opportunity was perfect and it might help her to relax knowing they'd have another stable income. "By the way Brax, it's a big ask, but no chance that you've got any spots going that I might be able to try my luck at getting, do you?"

He thought about it momentarily, scratching the back of his head. "Oh yeah... You can take Liam's job. I haven't found anyone else since he quit."

"Thanks dude!" Romeo beamed, thrilled that something had finally gone right for a change – and it had gone right so easily at that!

"Don't mention it. I'll just get Heath or Case to drop you off a timetable. First shift on Sunday if that's okay?" Brax confirmed.

Romeo nodded, still smiling.

"Alright – anyway, I gotta get back to it" Brax gestured, throwing a slight wave in his direction before he walked off, prompting Romeo to do the same thing but leave in the opposite direction carrying his takeaway containers.

#

Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Indi was beginning to get a bit bored, with her Dad only coming in to check on her every twenty minutes or so, and just for a few seconds. There was only so much deep, thought provoking thinking that you could do and because it was an unexpected trip to the hospital, her only means of personal entertainment was her phone, which was flat because she'd forgot to charge it the night before.

After hearing that his older sister was in hospital and not having any other plans, Dex decided to visit her.

Walking in, Indi's attention was instantly pricked up from the noise of someone walking towards her room.

"DEXXXXX!" She exclaimed with a grin. "I LOVE YOU!"

"Seriously Indi! What meds have they got you on? Where has this affectionate sister been hiding the rest of my life?" Dex questioned sarcastically, but keeping a straight face.

She laughed a little, deciding not to debate his taunt further. "Come. Sit" she stated, sitting on the side of the bed, with her legs dangling off, gesturing to the space next to her that she was implying for her brother to share with her.

"Eww, girl germs" he grimaced jokingly, before obeying Indi and propping himself up next to her. The two sat quietly as Dex wiggled around on the bed, getting comfy, before turning to Indi. "So you okay?"

She didn't reply for a minute, analyzing his question and biting her lip nervously as he looked at her with worry, placing a hand on her shoulder for support.

"Dex?" she whispered.

He nodded in confirmation, with a concerned look.

"I can't believe what I nearly caused, Dex" she confided as her tough exterior that she'd managed to maintain all day finally broke apart as the tears welling her eyes flooded out all of a sudden.

He wrapped his arm around his sister's back, pulling her into a hug as her head collapsed down onto Dex's shoulder with her eyes drowning in tears. "Indi…"

The strength that Indi had been working at upholding by keeping her fears and anger built up in her chest converted into the shaky breathing of crying. "I nearly lost the baby and it was my entire fault."

"It wasn't your fault, and it's okay now. Dad said you're both okay" Dex reassured.

The siblings didn't notice that Romeo had returned to the hospital and was walking to his wife's temporary room still holding the takeaway boxes and smiling, excited about the news of his new job which he also hoped would help Indi stress less knowing they'd be earning more money together. However, seeing the sight of the two hugging each other as he neared the room, Romeo slowed down until he was standing outside of the door listening in through the open door of the room, listening to his wife's tears and listening as she confided in her younger brother.

"As soon as I woke up I thought that I'd hurt the baby or something and I felt absolutely _terrible_ about that, but I was just _so_ angry at Romeo – I didn't even want to see him again at first."

Listening as his wife obliviously spoke the truth, but not to him, Romeo was instantly hurt not only because she'd felt that way and felt such a strong hate towards him, but he was even more hurt and crushed that she hadn't told him that she felt that way. She hadn't even tried to.

Knocking on the door and walking straight into the room, Romeo made it look he'd just walked straight in, walking over to the spare chair in the room, placing the two takeaway boxes there, figuring the meal which he'd intended for himself and Indi could just be eaten by Indi and Dex instead, before he turned and walked straight back out again, all without a word.

"What's up his nose?" Dex asked.

Indi shrugged, sniffling and sitting up again, wondering too about Romeo's strange behaviour. "I don't know…"

* * *

><p><strong>I hope everyone liked that chapter, but please let me know what you thought about it. Bit more drama coming up over the next couple of chapters so review and all will be revealed! <strong>

**Next Chapter: **

**# Approaching him for advice initially, Romeo confides in Sid. **

**# Romeo & Indi make a mutual decision about their marriage.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11 - **

Wiping the sleep out of his eyes, Romeo groggily emerged from his bedroom which he hadn't parted from since he'd arrived home from the hospital last night. Walking into the kitchen and over to the fridge, he poured himself out a glass of juice as Sid walked into the room too. "Morning mate, I wasn't expecting you here; thought that you might've stayed over at the hospital."

"Yeah… I think I was in Indi's bad books yesterday so I thought I'd back off and give her a bit of space." Romeo replied.

Sid looked up at him. "What do you mean? You guys are alright, aren't you?"

"I don't know… I hope so" Romeo said with a shrug.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Well, over the years, there's no chance that you've gained any tips on how to fast track Indi's moods, is there? Jealousy in particular" Romeo questioned, looking over to Sid doubtfully.

Chuckling lightly as he put down the paper that he was scanning though. "Sorry mate. I'm not entirely certain that there even _is_ a way to distract or speed up the process of Indi's moods – that girl can be determined when she wants to be! However, if there is, I'm still working on getting that one down pat just as much as you are, not that she's ever jealous of me much."

"Darn. I might give Dex a try too" he replied, nodding in acknowledgement.

"Jokes aside, what's up? Why is she jealous of you?"

"Well it's not really _me_ that she's jealous of specifically…"

Sid nodded in realization. "Ah, right. Let me guess… Annie Campbell?" Romeo nodded at him and Sid continued speaking. "Yes, she seemed quite irritated when Colleen brought her up in the conversation the other day…"

"Yeah, I think she said like 4 words to me for the rest of the night after that. Then, she saw me and Annie talking at the beach yesterday and she totally lost it, and it all just escalated from there. Now, I'm stuck trying to think of 101 different ways of how to grovel."

"Well first of all, is there any reason that Indi _should_ be worried?" Sid checked, despite trusting his son-in-law, with his overprotective-fathering duties coming first.

"No. Of course not! Not at all! That's the annoying thing... I didn't do anything wrong! All Annie and I did was talk about surfing and how things HAD changed since she was here last and I still ended up being blasted by Indi, for not even doing anything marginally wrong!" Romeo said throwing his hands in the air at his building frustration.

Sid nodded in agreement. "Yeah I know what you mean... I have personal experience with women's moods too. However, I wasn't quite as innocent or as faithful as you are."

Romeo nodded awkwardly, not feeling quite sure of how to respond to Sid's honesty.

"Also mate, you gotta remember that she's pregnant and all those extra hormones probably aren't helping much either."

"Yeah I know. It's just hard to keep all that in perspective when she's still all angry at me. I don't know how long it'll be before she's cooled down and I'm not a pro yet at differentiating between whether it's overreacting and a short spout of anger or if it's a big rifts and problem, so I dunno what to do."

Sid exhaled and patted Romeo's shoulder. "Sounds like you might just have to ride this one out and take it as it comes. I'm sure it's not that big of a deal. She'll probably be over it by the time she gets home today."

"It's more of an ongoing thing though. I mean, it's like if I care about her _too much_, then she'll start backing off and want a bit of space, but then if I don't smother her _enough,_ then she doesn't like that either. I don't know what I'm doing wrong!" Romeo exclaimed in frustration.

Getting up and walking over to the cabinet closest to the dining table, Sid pulled out a slender rectangular shaped bottle of transparent brown scotch, as well as two glasses, which he all placed down on the table before motioning for Romeo to sit in the seat next to him.

Romeo sat down as Sid poured a bit of the alcohol into each cup, only filling it till the glass was a quarter of the way full. Sliding a glass over to his son-in-law and taking a swig of his own, Sid gave Romeo a cautious explanation. "Now, I'm not saying that alcohol is the answer to problems, by _any_ means, but it might just take the edge off your concerns for now."

"Yeah I know, but thanks" Romeo replied, taking a small sip from his own cup before letting out a long sigh. "How did you do it, Sid?"

"Do what?"

"Provide enough for a family _and_ keep your marriage afloat?" Romeo added.

Sid let out a small chuckle. "Well I'm not sure if I'm the best person to be giving you advice! I wouldn't wish for you and Indi's marriage to go the way that mine did, whatsoever!"

"Yeah I don't really wanna know the bad stuff, but at least you and Jodi managed to stay together for what, 18 years or something?"

Putting his drink down and rubbing his hands together, Sid considered back to many years ago when he and his ex-wife were in a similar situation as the young couple were currently. "Well… By the time that Indi was born, I was already halfway through my medical degree and I was able to pick up frequent work at the local hospital which didn't pay badly, so financially we weren't too badly off. We just had to cut a few things out and then we were fine."

"Yeah, but it's not that easy for us, because we're both working and _still_ struggling to make ends meet! Hopefully it'll help now that I've got a job at Angelo's, on top of the surfing too, but it's gonna have to be enough to cover both of us soon, cause especially after yesterday I only want Indi to work as little as possible."

Sid nodded in understanding. "Well that's understandable…"

"All I need more hours in a day, then I could work more and everything will be solved, cause right now, I have no idea how we're going to be able to pay for Indi's Uni fees, the equipment I need for lessons, all the normal stuff and bills as well as all the stuff we'll need for the baby, without me having to either pull a bank job or loan... It's like shoving a flipping square through a circle!"

"Is there anything I can do to help you two?" Sid asked empathetically.

Romeo let out a light laugh from the tension. "Nah it's okay. I just need to figure out how to buy a few more hours in the day and then I'm set!"

"Don't get too worked up out about it. I'm sure that you guys will find a resolution for the money and I'm sure she'll have completely forgotten about Annie by the time she gets home."

"Yeah, here's hoping…" Romeo murmured in response.

"But if you want me to try and have a word to Indi about it, let me know, okay?"

He nodded. "Thanks mate, but there's no need for you to do that; this is between us, we can sort it out. There's no need for you to get involved too, besides I'm certain that it'll all pass over."

"I understand, but even if you need a hand lightening your load with finances, gimme ahoy if there's anything I can do" Sid added.

"Cheers" Romeo replied, even though he doubted that him or his wife would ever turn to Sid unless it was a life or death situation, with both valuing their pride and dependence more than some help.

Walking out of the room, Romeo prepared himself and considered the way that he'd respond to their issue when his wife would get home later from her overnight stay at the hospital. Part of him wanted to cower away and attempt to forget all about the problem for now, but a wiser part of him knew that if he did, he'd just be adding another unsteady block to their wobbling Jenga tower of a marriage – and the further that one block would be from the ground if it all came crashing down later.

#

Later that day, hearing the front door of the shared house opening and shutting twice, Romeo walked out from the bedroom where he'd retreated since his conversation with Sid, to greet his wife who'd been picked up and returned home by her father.

"Hey" he said with a small smile, walking over to and kissing Indi briefly before pressing an arm gently to her back and guiding her through the hallway into the lounge room. "How are you feeling?"

Dropping her handbag, which was her only personal possession that she'd had with her at the hospital in the corner of the room, Indi shrugged in response. "I'm fine."

"Good…" Romeo replied, slightly skeptically.

After Indi migrated over to the lounge before sitting down, Romeo followed her over and copied her actions, sitting next to her and resting a hand on her leg. "How'd you sleep last night? Was the hospital bed comfy enough for you?"

"It was fine" she responded bluntly, making it evident that she didn't feel like elaborating on her answer.

He nodded awkwardly, desperately trying to think of ways to resolve the growing tension in the room between them.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" he suggested.

Shaking her head in response, Indi declined her husband's offer. "Not especially."

"Can we have a word in private then?" he asked her as he scratched the back of his head, looking over to all of the other family members that were currently in the room also.

Getting up and walking confidently out of the room with a: "Fine", Indi went through to their bedroom with Romeo tracing close behind.

"Do you wanna tell me what all this is about?"

She shot him a bitter, unresponsive glance.

"Indi, please. I'm trying to understand here – I'm trying to make an effort" he explained with desperation.

Looking down to the ground, Indi flinched as she spoke. "I want us to take a break."

"What?" Romeo asked as his jaw figuratively dropped in shock. "Are you serious?"

She nodded, before gaining the confidence to look up at her reeling husband. "Yes. I just need time-out for a week or so, even if it's just while I'm off work and stuff. I need to clear my own head before I can sort things out with you."

"What? So you want me to leave?" he questioned as his stomach churned.

"Yeah… but it's nothing permanent, Romeo."

He sighed, tilting his head down until it was cupped in his hands as he spoke. "Is this that whole 'It's not you, it's me' thing? We're married Indi. We shouldn't have to make decisions or sort ourselves out alone. We should be finding solutions _together_, as a team."

"I know… But I gave this a lot of thought when I was at the hospital and I realized when I'm with you, I can't figure things out for myself… I can't decide what I want."

Pulling his head out of his hands, he looked up at her again, this time with worry and fear. "What do you mean, 'what _you_ want'? We're married, Indi. What is there to think about?"

"You don't understand…"

"Yeah you're right. I don't, but I'm trying to. If there's something I can do, please tell me."

She sighed wrapping her arms around herself for comfort. "I already have told you, Romeo. I told you I need some time and some space…."

Analyzing her request for several minutes in silence, he considered their situation, what she wanted and what he wanted. He knew his priorities – Indi and their baby, and far as he was concerned, he would do anything to help them. If this was really what Indi needed then it might end up only being short term pain of a brief separation period for the long-term gain in their marriage and if this was something that Indi needed to do to help herself stress less, then he figured that it was worth it.

"Okay, fine… We'll take a break, but let me make it clear that it's **only** a **break**…just some time for you to sort your head out. This is only temporary and I'm only agreeing to it if you think that it'll help the big picture for us, okay?"

"Fine by me" she agreed.

He nodded in acceptance before he began packing up a few pairs of clothing and basic essentials before looking up at her. "Indi? You know I'm still here for you…"

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry guys, short chapter but I felt kinda uninspired after only receiving one review (big thank you to .Fan!). Oh well, I guess this story isn't everyone's cup of tea! Anyway, what do you all think about their 'break'? This story is headed slightly in the same direction as they're going in the show currently, but rest assured, it won't last as permanently as it appears it will on H&amp;A! I'm totally team Romigo here! <strong>

**Next Chapter: **

**# Casey & Indi become better friends after talking again. **

**# Still on a break from Indi, Romeo confides in Ruby. **


	12. Chapter 12

**Quick A/N - Thank you to gabisamore, CaseyRubyFan and Chelsayy for your reviews on the last chapter, they all mean a lot! Also, this chapter's mostly Casey/Indi and Romeo/Ruby discussions, but I just want to make it clear that there is NOTHING romantic between either of those pairings in this story, they're just purely friends being there for each other, no romantic interests or indecision whatsoever! **

* * *

><p><strong>C<strong>**hapter 12 - **

It was the day after Romeo & Indi had decided to more or less hit 'pause' in their marriage.

The night before, Romeo had ventured down to the Summer Bay Caravan Park in town, staying in a complimentary van courtesy of Roo. While back at the farm, Indi had to fill her dad, Dex and Sasha in of the decision that she and Romeo had made and the fact that he wouldn't be staying there for the next week or so.

After a terrible night's sleep wriggling around in the lonely bed trying to get comfortable, a night's sleep that was possibly even worse than the night before when she'd been in the unfamiliar hospital bed, Indi had decided to go into town with Sasha who she had agreed to drive to school that day, figuring that it gave her _something_ to do while she was off work and out of Uni classes for a week.

While in town, she figured that she might as well make the most of the trip in, deciding to treat herself to a comfort breakfast at the Diner. Walking in and over to the counter, she guiltily ordered a chocolate brownie with lots of extra toppings, finding herself looking over her shoulder sub-consciously as she did so until she left the cafe, subtly trying to walk out with her junky breakfast to eat away from everyone else sitting on a bench overlooking the beach.

Getting halfway through with no interruptions and guilt-free enjoyment on her own, Indi was startled when she felt a tap on her shoulder from behind her, turning around to face the youngest Braxton.

"Oh, Casey, hi" Indi greeted awkwardly, more focused on subtly hiding her 'breakfast'. "Why aren't you at school? Do you _ever_ actually go?"

"Frees" he replied with a light laugh, before adding onto his answer. "I just finished a lesson and now I don't have to be at school until like 12."

Indi nodded in understanding.

"How's life, anyway?" he questioned conversationally as he walked around from where he'd been standing behind the bench so that they could face each other without Indi getting a crick neck.

She shrugged simply. "Been better. And yours?"

"Hmm, if you count getting your third 'F' in a row for Business Studies as _good_, then I'm having a cracker of a day!"

Indi grimaced sympathetically. "Oh… That doesn't sound like the best situation. Do you need any extra help with understanding it? Business Studies was my forte when I was in school."

"Don't worry about it, I think I need to work on getting my teacher to at least read it _before_ I work on perfecting the subject" Casey replied, declining her offer.

"Who's your teacher? Phillips?"

He shook his head. "Nah, she's gone. I've got Townsend."

"I've never heard of them before, must be new."

"Yeah, anyway, you weren't in the middle of anything, were you?" Casey checked politely.

She shook her head and motioned to the plate that she'd been trying to hide next to her. "Apart from trying to avoid being caught eating _that_, I was doing nothing."

"Hey, haven't you got an excuse to eat whatever food you want, right?" he said with a laugh. "Besides, I know the real reason why you wanted to sit out here…" Casey added, gesturing to the landscape of the beach that Indi was facing and which was directly behind his back.

"And that would be why exactly?"

"So that you could perv on Romeo!" he laughed like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

She let out a small, awkward smile over Casey's innocence and his lack of knowledge about the current state of her and her husband's relationship, before questioning his last statement in interest over his whereabouts. "Is Romeo on the beach?"

"I don't know. It was just a wild guess" Casey admitted with a shrug. "So anyway, I was looking for you before."

"What? Is that a normal thing you do? Do you just walk around town in circles hoping to bump into someone?"

Casey laughed. "Alright, you got me. I lied. I thought saying that I was _looking_ for you might sound better than 'Oh, seeing as you're here'..."

"Seeing as I'm here what?"

"I was wondering if I could borrow some more of your notes for the English mid-year analysis? I asked Dex yesterday but apparently he's already lent them out to April and so seeing as you're here…"

Indi nodded, finishing the sentence off for Casey. "Yeah sure, you can borrow mine. Just swing past my house later and you can pick them up, or else I'll get Sash to give them to you at school tomorrow, granted that you attend it for a change!"

"Alright" he replied with a laugh. "Considering my track record with school, maybe I'm just safest to collect it tonight."

"Okay. I'll be home for most of the day because there are only so many hours you can spend dawdling around Summer Bay on your own!"

He nodded. "Well that sounds fair enough! Anyway, I gotta get going and get ready for school. See what I did there...? I mentioned _school._.. that place that I do go, contrary to the belief of certain blonds!"

"Okay, I better not keep you then" Indi said with a laugh.

"Catch you later, Indi. You can enjoy your breakie guilt-free and in peace now!"

She smiled, waving as he walked off. "Yeah, thanks. See ya."

Being left alone again, as she continued eating her brownie-breakfast, Indi smiled to herself, pleased with the fact that she had managed to not only forget about Romeo for a few minutes as a pleasant change, but she'd also been able to have a laugh as well. She wasn't planning on caving into asking for him to come back, forcing herself to be strong enough to live without him for those few days until she'd sorted herself out, but she couldn't help but miss him. It was only natural that after living with someone so closely for a year, having them gone would leave an unmistakable feeling of emptiness and loneliness, which was a feeling remarkably similar to that of which Romeo was experiencing at the same time at the Caravan Park.

#

"Morning sleeping beauty" Roo exclaimed as Romeo walked into the kitchen of the Caravan Park House from outside where he'd spent the night in one of the spare caravans which was acting as his temporary home for now. "I thought surfers were early risers – up with the sun, right?"

"Yeah, something like that…" Romeo agreed, not expanding on the fact that he had been awake almost since sunrise, but hadn't bothered moving from his bed in a slightly depressive state, not feeling bothered or having the enthusiasm to surface from the caravan and progress to human contact at the main house.

"How'd you sleep anyway? Was the van comfy enough?"

He nodded, moving over to the dining table and taking a seat. "It was fine Roo; thanks for letting me have that until things are sorted out with Indi."

"You're welcome. And don't take this the wrong way, but I just hope for you guys sake that'll will be sooner rather than later."

"Me too…" he said sadly in reply

Roo patted his shoulder before scurrying over to the fridge. "Let me make you breakfast."

Considering the offer momentarily, he knew he should've declined the offer and explained how he didn't want to intrude and disrupt Roo's routine, but at the moment it was exactly what Romeo felt like, making it doubly, triply hard to decline. "Thanks Roo. That'd be great if it's not too much trouble."

"No worries! I was going to make something for myself anyway" she smiled, throwing her hands in the air before pulling things out from the fridge and different cupboards.

Romeo shot her a grateful smile before looking over to the staircase after hearing the quick thumps of someone swiftly making their way downstairs, before discovering seconds later that it was Ruby, preoccupied with shaking her hands through her obviously wet hair to air-dry it.

"Morning Rubes" he greeted, getting a puzzled look back in response.

"Um, did I miss something? Were we supposed to meet up for training?"

He shook his head as she sat down at the table next to him, pulling her hair into a pony-tail. "Uh, no. I'm staying in one of the caravans for a while."

She gave him a sympathetic look, receiving a look of grateful acknowledgement in return.

There was a exclamation of annoyance in the kitchen and the two looked up at Roo who was doing a double check, before walking over to the desk and grabbing her handbag and proceeding to walk out of the house after informing Romeo and Ruby of her actions. "We're out of bread. I'm just going to nick out and grab some. Won't be long!"

After she left, Ruby and Romeo sat in awkward silence for a few moments before she piped up quietly. "I'm sorry, Romeo. How are you holding up?"

"I'm fine. It's not like she pushed me out the door kicking and screaming – we both made the decision and accepted the fact that taking a break would be the best thing for us."

She nodded in understanding, looking down at the table absent-mindedly before she remembered a fact that pulled her back down to earth. "Hold on. I heard someone say that she's pregnant, or is that just another Colleen via Madge or vice versa rumour?"

"No, no, the last I knew, she's definitely pregnant… Unless that's something else that she's forgotten to tell me about."

Ruby gasped, covering her mouth with her hand before releasing it so that she could talk again. "Oh no! Isn't the baby yours? Oh, that makes sense… I'm so sorry, Romeo."

He shook his head, stopping her from continuing on her. "No that's not the case… It's mine."

"What do you mean then? Does one of you not want the baby or something?"

"Well I'd be lying if I told you it was a planned pregnancy, but we both really want it and all of this doesn't really have anything to do with the baby… at all. It's just personal stuff, nothing to do with that."

"I see. I'll leave all that between you two, but if there's anything I can do to help, let me know."

He smiled at her from across the table from her gratefully. "I doubt that there is, but thanks anyway."

"You're welcome, and congrats by the way. When's she due?"

"Thanks. Not for ages; much later in the year" he grinned.

She smiled back at him, before standing up and pushing her chair in under the table. "Want a coffee?"

He shook his head. "Nah, I can fend for myself. I suppose it's about time that I do something rather than just walk in, being waited on hand and foot."

"Sheesh Romeo! It's only a coffee – not a chauffeuring service! I was gonna make one for myself anyway!"

"Oh in that case, if you insist, I'd love one!" Romeo teased, getting the back of his head whacked as Ruby was on her way walking over to the kitchen.

Playing with the edge of the placemat out of boredom while Ruby prepared the drinks, the room was surprisingly silent for the chaos that was usually initiated from people coming and going resulting in noise ranging from everything to arguments to excitement.

The two left the silence as it was for several minutes until the petite brunette came back over, placing the two mugs in front of herself and Romeo. "Hope you don't mind me being nosy, but all this that's going on with you and Indi, what does that mean for the baby? Like are you gonna get back together?"

Taking a sip and letting out a bottled up sigh, Romeo shrugged honestly. "I really haven't thought about it from that perspective, or like that. I guess I just gotta put my hope and my faith into the fact that we're just on a short break and that this will all of well and truly passed over by the time bubs is here."

Ruby nodded in understanding. "Sorry. Didn't mean to worry you or anything."

He smiled covering it up, but really, she'd set his thoughts off on a negative train-of-thought as he considered the what if's of if the break in their marriage wasn't _just_ a break? What if this was the beginning of the end for them? He didn't know what Indi was thinking or whether the fact was that she did want to end their marriage, but instead of saying it outright, thought that saying they should take a break sounded better, softening the blow. Maybe she didn't and genuinely just need a little bit of time like he was initially led to believe, but he couldn't help but consider his growing fears.

What if it was worse than he thought and he _couldn't_ fix things? Would they just be separated parents to the baby, batting it and the duties of caring for it back and forth between them? Considering the undesirable possibility further, he realized the likelihood is that Indi would probably end up having it most of the time then, because of all the typical female responsibilities and roles with babies, meaning Romeo would get next to no time with it.

Hating all of the ideas that he had contemplated and worked himself up about, Romeo got up and fled from the house, mumbling something to Ruby as he escaped the closure of the room, longing for the sense of freedom that the beach would provide as well as the sense of relief and control that surfing filled him with.

As he did so and made his way down to the beach, he promised himself to try and resolve things with his wife and attempt anything that might save their marriage and their child from the destiny that he feared.

**Next chapter: **

_# Which family member takes the responsibility of getting Romeo & Indi back together on themselves?_

_# Will they succeed with their mission?_


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13 – **

It was Saturday morning on the Walker farm and the two girls were home alone together, sitting in silence and doing their own thing. Sasha had been alternating between emailing, reading a magazine and texting, while Indi too wasn't tending to sit still for long, in-between reading a pregnancy magazine and getting up frequently to get food to eat. However, they were sitting still currently, with the two girls on opposite couches both reading their magazines in the silence.

It had been nearly three weeks now since Romeo had left to stay at the Caravan Park for a while, with neither even attempting contact with the other yet.

"Indi?" Sasha asked, stopping what she was doing momentarily and looking up at her older sister.

"Yup?" she answered in response, but not shifting her eyes up from her magazine.

"What's happening about Romeo? When is he coming back?"

Putting the magazine down and laying it out over her lap, Indi looked up at Sasha, biting her bottom lip gently as she did so. "I don't know Sash… It's complicated…"

"You guys are married! What is there to be complicated? Have you even talked to him since?" the younger sister questioned firmly.

Cowering slightly as she lowered her head from looking directly at Sasha guiltily. "Not properly…"

"Well what are you waiting for Indi? What bad do you think is going to come from talking to him?"

Indi shrugged honestly. "Fear of the unknown I guess?"

"Oh come on! That's pathetic!" Sasha replied with a roll of her eyes.

"Excuse me, Sasha? This is between _me_ and _Romeo_! The last time I checked, you weren't a part of that equation and we can sort it out without you interfering!" Indi said as her voice was gradually rising to a higher volume.

"Well you better 'sort it out' soon…"

Scoffing in offence, Indi questioned her sister with annoyance. "Why are you so Team Romeo all of a sudden, may I ask?"

"I never said I was Team Romeo, I just think you two should get back together, even if it's just for the sake of your baby initially because in case you've forgotten, her or she is a part of your equation that you mentioned before too!"

This time it was Indi who rolled her eyes. "You don't think I haven't thought about that like a million times already?"

"Obviously not if you're still not even _trying_ to do anything about getting back together… Listen, I know what it's like to have a messed up family life, okay? You say things are 'complicated', well I've heard that word so many times, generally just days before my mum and her boyfriend that she was with would end things, okay? I know the code-language for breaking up."

"I'm still going to try to fix things with him... At some point…" Indi muttered, her voice a lot lower than what it had been in her previous yelling with Sasha.

Sasha nodded unbelievingly. "Right… Would that be before or after you've missed the boat and lost him for good?"

Indi looked up at her with concern, realizing how high the stakes really were and as she didn't respond, Sasha took the opportunity to keep talking and drilling the facts into her as she was slowly becoming weaker and weaker in the argument. "Is that really what you want your situation to be? Being a single mum? What about the baby? Is that the sort of life you want for that too? Being born into its parent's messy marriage or separation? I know what messy families are like and you should know too."

"I do…" Indi confirmed quietly.

"And you were even better off than _I _was. I was the outsider in a blended family. What if you and Romeo do divorce and found other partners? _Your_ baby will be the outsider. Please Indi, it's awful. I am begging you. Please do whatever you can to avoid you and Romeo's baby going through that too…"

Standing up with a sniffle, dropping the magazine that was laid out on her lap onto the coffee table, Indi scurried off to her bedroom feeling a surging wave of hormones, realization and fear. "Leave me alone Sasha!"

The dark-haired girl remained where she was, feeling a little bit bad at how upset she'd gotten her sister, but was pleased that what she'd said to her had sunk in. The last few days, Sasha had been remembering some of her own experiences and the pain she'd felt from her family situation growing up, and for the first time realized and related that to the risk that her niece or nephew are at of being exposed to that too if something didn't happen to avoid it, hence why the feisty teenager had taken it into her own hands.

One person down and one to go…

#

Later that day, Sasha caught a bus into town, considering Indi hadn't surfaced from when she'd stormed off to her room after their discussion and her dad & Dex weren't home to take her in.

Getting off at one of the few stops, closest to the Surf Club and beach, Sasha pulled her mobile out, scrolling through to the 'R's', stopping at the familiar name of her brother-in-law, hitting a button and moving the mobile up to her ear.

"Hey Sash" greeted the voice after less than ten seconds of hearing the ringing sounds.

"Howdy R. How's it going?"

"Not bad. Yourself? How's Indi and the rest of you guys been?"

Sasha smirked, as she answered him, discovering a way that she could weave more emphasis on the aim of her plan even within the first step. "We're fine… Indi's missing you though."

Smiling to himself over the line, he wasn't quite expecting for Sasha to confess that, but he wasn't complaining whatsoever. He'd been wondering if she had and knowing that made him feel somewhat happier and more wanted. "Really? Did she say that you?"

"Not in so many words…" Sasha cringed, trying to mentally form a believable lie that sounded good as quickly as she could. "But you can tell that she hasn't been the same without you."

"I'm sorry to hear that…" he replied sympathetically despite being unable to hide his smile.

"Well anyway, I'm in town on my own and was wondering if you're doing anything right now? Could we catch up for a juice or something?"

"Um, okay, sure" he agreed, with his comments gradually becoming more confident as he went on.

She smiled, pleased with how easily the phone call was going and the fact that apart from her slight lie earlier, everything was playing directly into her hands. "Great! Can I meet you at the Surf Club in 15 minutes?"

"Sounds good" he confirmed. "See ya Sash."

"Bye" she replied before hanging up with a grin, walking the slowest that she could to get to the Surf Club in what would normally another 30 second walk from where she was.

#

After getting to the Surf Club and finding a free tall table and stool to sit at, Sasha waited for Romeo, observing the nearby pool game that several of the River Boys were halfway through playing before pulling her phone out and going through stuff on there before she was interrupted soon after she started doing so.

"Morning" Romeo greeted, walking over and patting the back of Sasha's shoulder before taking a seat next to her.

"Hey. Long time no see…"

He nodded, placing his belongings on the table in front of them. "Yeah I know, hey? Did you want a juice? My shout."

"Sure. Watermelon would be great."

He nodded again, getting up and walking over to the counter that John Palmer was currently manning. From afar, Sasha watched the two talking and interacting, with Romeo handing over two notes across the counter that were placed into the till as he leant against the bench and Palmer started preparing the juices. Several minutes later he came back over to her, holding two disposable juice cups with straws in them, handing the second to her upon his arrival.

"So don't get me wrong, it's great bonding with you and stuff, but was there a reason why you wanted to meet up?"

Once again, putty into her hands. "Well it's funny that you say that…"

"What do you want…?" Romeo sighed, recognizing where she was going – her last comment resembling the sort that he'd expect his crafty sister, Mink to use.

"It's not for me specifically…"

He raised an eyebrow at her curiously. "Continue..."

"I know it's not really my business, but I was wondering what's going ob between you and Indi? What about the baby too?"

"You're right. It's not really your business, but I'm not entirely sure. She hasn't spoken to me about it."

"She hasn't talked to you, but have you tried initiating a conversation? Or are both of you are as slack as each other?"

Looking away from her glare guiltily, Romeo shrugged.

"Be a man, Romeo!" said Sasha, screeching loudly at him. "I would've thought that you of all people would've understood the consequences if you don't and just left it be!"

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, looking at her appearing to be slightly set back.

"You spent a couple of years being raised being in foster homes, right? You should know how unsecure that is."

Still looking like he was missing a piece of information in confusion, Romeo needed more explanations. "What has that got to do with anything?"

"That's the sort of thing that your kid will go through if you and Indi don't get back together! Sure it won't be fostered, but it might as well be because that's the sort of family situation it'll be like having!" Sasha replied sternly, rolling her eyes at his thickness.

He sat there quietly considering what she'd said, feeling the memories of his rough past and upbringing niggling in the back of his mind, threatening to haunt him further if he continued thinking about it. Just thinking about it, he could instantly feel the awful feelings and rejection that he'd felt. He wouldn't want his worst enemy to go through that, let alone his own child.

"We'll be back together before the baby's born. I'm sure of it."

She rolled her eyes at him again making sure that she didn't let her confidence slip at all. "Yeah right… and how are you going to get back together exactly? A wave of Fairy Godmother's magic wand? Face it, you guys are as stubborn as each other, but have to start talking and working things out otherwise that awkward family situation will just be inherited by the baby – regardless of if that's what either of you want or don't want for it."

After he failed to answer for ten seconds, processing what she was telling him and the point she was making, Sasha stood up and pushed her stool under the table, grabbing her phone and her juice, walking off confidently to leave him to mull on what she'd told him with a more sincere: "Bye Romeo…"

Romeo continued sitting there motionlessly in a deep thought-provoking debate with himself mentally, attempting to weigh up any possible actions that he may or may not take and the consequences and repercussion's they'd have on his wife and unborn child - both of which he loved. He didn't want any of what Sasha had warned him about, but the problem was that he didn't even know where to begin with Indi again. Because she'd claimed to need 'time', it wasn't going to be as easy as just winning her over again, rather it would have to be more persuasive.

He considered the option of staging an intervention, as well the option of asking one of her family members to talk to her and report back to him, but he realized there really was only one way that he could deal with the first step of communication, byt finding out if there was anything he could do or any terms that he could agree to to make sure they were at least together again.

'_**You. Me. Angelo's. 7?': **_Was the precise and inviting text message that he sent off to his wife with the plan of them being able to talk over dinner and touch bases with each other at least, if not progress further steps ahead than that.

Little did Romeo know that Sasha's discussion with Indi earlier that day had hit her hard also, with her considering many of the same things and strategies that he currently was, and under a minute later, he received his confirmative reply. _**"I'll be there."**_

#

That night, sitting at the two-seater table in Angelo's, Romeo was surprisingly nervous, fidgeting with the sleeve of his special light blue formal suit-shirt that he hadn't worn since he'd been employed as a sales-man by Dennis. The butterflies pounding in his stomach were incredibly close to the same amount that he'd felt on not only his first date with Indi, but also on their wedding day that afternoon in Hawaii.

He felt slightly more confident by the fact that he wasn't stood up as he saw the familiar blond entering the room in red, walking towards his table with a feeble smile directed at him.

Standing up and making the move to boldly kiss her cheek considering their current separation, Romeo smiled as he scanned her up and down looking at something in particular. "That little bubba-bump is growing well."

"Don't get too excited. All things considered, I think it's more of a food-belly than baby-belly. You know my rep for comforting eating…" she admitted with a light laugh, blushing a little as she sat down, figuring that was the best way to direct attention away from her burgeoning bump.

"Regardless, it's still pretty cute" he replied honestly. "Besides, I've always loved that red-dress on you anyway."

She smiled from the compliment, blushing even more as she picked up the familiar menu which she began to scan. "So did you have a specific reason in mind when you invited me to come out to dinner with you?"

"Am I not allowed to just invite my wife out? ... But yes there is a reason anyway" Romeo said as he sat down, smirking initially before becoming more serious as he continued.

"And that reason would be?"

Romeo took a deep breath, looking Indi straight in the eye from across the table. "I think we need to talk and make a few decisions about the baby as well our marriage and what those decisions would mean for the baby, especially considering our break was only meant to be a week or so and it's been pretty much triple that. Do you even have any interest in us getting things back on track or was 'needing time' just an excuse for a separation? I need to know."

"I know our break was only meant to be short and stuff, that's all that I wanted, but I haven't really known how to bring the issue to your attention and I didn't even really know if I had the right to ask you if you wanted to come back or not, considering the fact that I was the one who forced you out in the first place."

"Of course you had the right to ask me, Indi. Regardless, I'm still _your_ husband and _we're_ still married."

"Is that what you still want? No long-term breaking up or anything, right?"

"No way! The last thing I would want is to break up and divorce or whatever... And listen. I know we can't offer our baby everything like a whole wad of spare money to spoil it with, or luxurious living or anything and even worse, we can't shelter it from all the other badness in the world, but the one thing we _can_ do for it is give him or her the stable family-life that it deserves."

She smiled at him, battling back her hormones to stop herself from tearing up, feeling all warm and fuzzy at the prospect of that idea and the fact that that was what he was wanted and was so keen and passionate to pursue for their child.

"Sasha made me realize how uncomfortable I feel with us even just taking a break. We need to face our issues and fix them as soon as possible for the sake of our marriage and our baby" he continued.

Realizing the common link and seemingly mutual means of understanding, Indi looked over to Romeo curiously. "What do you mean Sasha made you realize that? Did she talk to you?"

"Yeah, this afternoon she asked if we could meet up at the Surf Club and she basically drilled all the repercussions it would have if we didn't get back together. Why?"

"No reason, but she basically shoved the same facts down my throat this morning too. It made me realize what path we were headed down if we didn't do something about it…"

Romeo smirked, nodding in agreement. "Same… I can't believe how sneaky your sister is though. She must've planned that."

"It's Sasha we're talking about, right? Of course it would've been planned!" Indi confirmed with a small laugh.

"Yeah… So, are we gonna give us another shot?"

She smiled at him across the table, sliding her hands over and clutching the outside of his with hers. "Definitely. I'm in if you are."

"Of course I am. Team Smith for the win!" he replied, grinning cheekily at her, reminding Indi of the charmer that'd she first fallen in love – that she was still in love with, despite all the problems and issues that were constantly trying to tug at them, wanting to pull them apart.

Raising their now intertwined hands to his lips; he pressed a gentle kiss in between Indi's two hands that were connected by his. "Let's eat."

#

After dinner, the couple walked out together a lot happier, not to mention more together than when they'd both arrived at the restaurant separately earlier that night.

Romeo's arm was snaked around Indi's back all the way through to where it was holding her other hand as they walked past the outside of the building which was the exterior of the Surf Club, over to her car, slowing down as they reached the end of the building, before coming to a halt in unison.

Boldly, Indi pushed Romeo's body into the brick wall from the force of a rough kiss –something she'd been aching to do again for the whole three weeks he'd been staying away.

Obligingly, without flinching, he continued her actions, kissing her passionately and deeply, moving one of his hands from where they both were on her back to hold her close and with one, gently trailed the shortest and closesr layers of her hair that were sliding closer and closer towards their faces, threatening to interrupt their embrace, moving them behind her ear with his fingers, stroking her face and hair as he did so during the kiss.

Indi was the first to break away, needing to inhale some air before she continued, breathing heavily, but with a big smile. "I've missed you… I've missed _that_ so much."

Romeo smiled, nodding in acknowledgement and agreement, silently taking deep breaths from his breathlessness. Moving his head down closer to Indi's again, he rested his forehead on hers, enabling them to look each other straight into the eye. "Can I come home?"

"Yes" she replied definitively, moving slightly as she raised her head to kiss his cheek which Romeo acted on, doubling the action and pulling them into another deep, but slower kiss.

Minutes later, the kiss ended and the couple's lips broke apart leaving them as breathless as the first kiss. Indi adjusted her arms till they were wrapped square around his waist, squeezing him with a smile and Romeo mirrored her action again, with his arms wrapped slightly lower than hers were. "Let's go. I can just get my clothes and stuff from the caravan tomorrow."

"I doubt you'd need them anyway…" Indi smirked, her suggestion trailing off flirtatiously, receiving a grin in response from her husband as he lead her to the car, arms still wrapped around her back and holding her close.

Despite everything, all their problems, all their complications the two loved each other and needed to stay together for their unborn child. That's what it came back to, and all they need was a push from a certain sister with persuasion and using their mutual love of the baby to reunite them and keep them fighting for their marriage and through all their problems together.

* * *

><p><strong>So Romigo are back on track - yay! Gotta love Sash ;) Did you like this chapter? I'd be thrilled if you could leave a review! I really want to try and reach 50 reviews before I post the next chapter, so please? Help me out?<strong>

**Next chapter:**

**# A problem develops at work for Romeo. **

**# Indi feels the first kick from the baby. **


	14. Chapter 14

**So first of all, can I just start by sending out a HUGE thank you to everybody who reviewed Chapter 13. Thank you all so much! I can't believe I got 9 reviews on a single chapter - wow, so thanks! **

**Also, make sure you read the A/N at the bottom of the chapter for an exciting announcement...**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 14:<strong>

It was the morning after Romeo & Indi's reuniting dinner date at Angelo's where the couple had mutually agreed to give their marriage another shot and end their break, resulting in Romeo coming home for the first time in three weeks.

Romeo trotted out of their bedroom quietly, sneaking into the kitchen where the other members of the Walker family were eating.

"Look what the cat dragged in!" Dex announced, noticing his sister's husband presence first, but prompting the other two to look up at him with a smile in Sid's case and a smirking grin from Sasha.

"No need to thank me…" Sasha declared proudly before walking off confidently to her room, making Romeo roll his eyes, as a cover for his gratitude that he kept concealed to prevent Sasha from getting a big head.

Romeo walked over to the fridge, pulling out a few eggs, along with the butter and milk, before grabbing a fry pan from the cupboard. Cracking the eggs and putting the pan on heat, he began cooking the eggs, in between toasting some bread that he had retrieved.

Putting his mug that he'd been drinking from at the table into the sink, Sid slapped the back of Romeo's shoulder as he walked up behind him. "So you're back mate?"

After flipping the eggs and nodding, Romeo looked up at him with a smiling reply. "Yeah."

"I'm glad you two've worked things out. Good on you for persisting with it" Sid responded with an acknowledging nod before leaving Romeo to continue cooking.

Finishing the eggs, which he divided between two plates, along with the toast that he buttered, Romeo finished off by making a cup of coffee and a cup of tea. Putting the two plates and two cups on a breakfast tray which was rarely used, he carried the small meal to his bedroom where he'd been ten minutes earlier, setting the tray on one of the bedside tables.

He climbed back into bed, pulling the blanket up and pressed several soft kisses into his wife's hair in an attempt to wake her up gently. After several minutes she started stirring, mumbling softly before her eyes finally opened to her husband who was looking down at her toweringly from where he was sitting up in bed beside her.

"Hey" she said softly, a smile spreading across her face.

"Morning sleeping beauty. How'd you sleep?"

She sat up and gave him a kiss. "Really well. But waking up has been better."

"Good…" he acknowledged with a smile before turning and grabbing the breakfast tray. Hope this can make it even better still."

Indi's face lit up with excitement at being spoiled, not remembering the last time she'd been made breakfast in bed. "Aw! That's so sweet!"

"There's not much choice, sorry" he added, gesturing to the eggs and toast, passing the tray to her.

She smiled, kissing his cheek anyway. "This is great."

Moving slightly, Indi rested her back against Romeo, sitting up against him as the two began eating the meal, slowly, in between lots of side-tracked kisses, embraces and "I love you's'.

#

Later that day, after a continuation of varying ways to show their affection for each other, both privately and publicly in front of other put-off members of the Walker family, Romeo had to leave for work. Dex had caught a lift into town with him to help tutor Lottie, leaving Sid and his two daughters at the Farm House.

Indi was sitting at the dining table working on her laptop and Sasha was eating her lunch next to her in silence. The girls were being cautious to be quiet, knowing Sid was trying to sleep in preparation for his night-shift later that day.

"Can you help me do the dishes once I'm finished this, Indi?" Sasha asked, pointing to her half-eaten sandwich that was sitting on her plate.

"If I have to" Indi agreed unenthusiastically, but obligingly as Sasha kept eating her sandwich, as quickly as possible almost as if thinking that if she wasn't quick enough, then the agreement would vanish.

Taking her plate to the sink along with a couple of others in the room, Sasha started getting the hot soapy water running, rinsing off all the dishes quickly as Indi shut her laptop, getting up to join her.

"Do you want to wash or wipe?"

Indi replied almost the split second that Sasha finished speaking: "Wash!"

"Alright" Sasha nodded, putting down the dish she was rinsing off to grab a tea towel from the other side of the room. "Do you have to work today? I only checked my timetable. I didn't see yours."

Shaking her head, Indi smiled at the reminder. "Nope, it's an R.D.O for me."

"Jealous…" Sasha whined, letting out a groan. "I regret asking now. I've got night shift _and_ lock up."

"Ha, ha. I think I might enjoy watching a movie with that husband of mine tonight … but I'll be thinking about you!"

Sasha rolled her eyes irritably as she turned her back to face Indi, but continuing to wipe the wet dishes and put them away.

After that, Indi tried starting up a couple of other conversations with her younger sister to make the time go faster, which although she replied to, were all short lived.

Finally, finishing washing her last dish, Indi let the water out of the sink before wiping the benches and as she rung out the excess water from the dish cloth she felt a strong, unmistakable movement from her stomach.

Letting out a small gasp as she panicked at first, Indi instantly clutched her stomach in fear with a pounding heart before a smile spread across her face.

Before seeing the smile, only seeing the clutching and hearing the worrying gasp, Sasha faced her sister quickly with wide eyes, grasping her arm supportively. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

Leaving one of her clutched hands still on her stomach Indi nodded quickly, and grabbed her sisters hand that was on her own arm with her other hand, dragging it to join hers on her ever-growing baby belly.

"The baby's kicking! That's its first kick!" Indi exclaimed with excitement as the worry on Sasha's face was replaced with a much more confident smile.

The girls stood close together with both Indi and Sasha's hands pressed onto Indi's stomach as they waited impatiently with the seconds in between the second kick feeling like hours, until finally simultaneous smiles erupted again, along with bouncing squeals.

Feeling the final light kick to finish off, the girl's excitement continued, gradually getting louder and louder until an unhappy father walked into the room.

"What on earth is going on girls? You know that I'm trying to sleep!"

"It's kicking!" Sasha managed to let out in between her excitement, pointing to Indi's baby belly.

A smile passed over Sid's face too, before the grumpiness kicked in again. "That's great. But please be quieter" he lectured, before walking back out of the room again leaving Sasha & Indi to proceed to babble in excitement, wishing to feel it again.

#

Meanwhile, at the same time, Romeo was bored out of his brains at work. Rush hour had just finished and Angelo's was slow, with only the occasional customer coming in to order.

He re-re-wiped a few tables just to do something, with two other male employees filling salt and pepper shakers and Heath, being the Braxton representative, was in the kitchen with a few of the chefs, likely eating as he had been for most of Romeo's shift so far.

He let out a sigh, collapsing into one of the seats and giving himself a short break considering the fact that at present, there were no customers currently in the restaurant.

Standing by the cash register, one of his colleagues, Drew, let out a short cough which prompted Romeo to look around and just see the side of the other guy, Yabba, leaning over to him with both their arms close as they noticeably exchanged something. However, with the bar covering in between Romeo and the other guys, covering their hands, he didn't know _what_ exactly it was, all he knew was it was more than suspicious.

Getting up and guiltily continuing to clean tables, Romeo couldn't shake what he'd just seen as he tried to come to a conclusion, both rational and drastic as to what an explanation for that exchange had been about, but nothing seemed to make sense… Well no sense _legally_ anyway.

He considered whether he should make a passing comment to Brax about it the next time he saw him around or something, but he didn't have any evidence of it, or any possible leads. It was just suspicious.

In the end Romeo decided to brush it off, thinking it was all perfectly innocent and just coincidental. But then again, the last time he'd had sneaky suspicions at work, it turned out that Stu Henderson had been murdered…

#

Leaving Angelo's after his shift finished later that day, Romeo went straight home and arrived home around 6:30, just before dinner time.

Walking in the front door, Romeo braced himself as he heard the running steps of his wife pelting towards him, before she threw herself into him as they reached each other.

Romeo kissed the top of her hair as she wrapped her arms around his waist, digging her head into his chest. "Careful. I'm sure catapulting into me can't be good for the baby."

She nodded in acknowledgement, before erupting into a similar excitement like she had earlier that day with Sasha.

"The baby kicked today, Romeo! Me and Sasha both felt it!"

He smiled enthusiastically before feeling a tiny bit sad from missing out. "Really? That's awesome! Has it kicked again since?"

"No it hasn't. Maybe it was waiting for you to get home…" she smiled.

"Mm, maybe" Romeo replied, pressing another kiss into her hair before turning both of their attention to the pizza box in his other hand which he began waving around. "I gotcha some leftover's by the way. A couple of people didn't collect their orders."

Extracting her arms from Romeo's waist, she eagerly snatched the box off him, opening and leaving him standing in the hallway alone. "Ooh! I love you!" she exclaimed as she smelt the wafts of gourmet pizza.

"Do you love me or the pizza?"

"Hmm, both, but the pizza's kinda got an advantage over you right now" she smirked teasingly as he just laughed, following her through to the kitchen as she tucked into the pizza, but he changed his mind.

Sniffing his black work shirt, Romeo started walking back to the hallway towards the bathroom. "I might go have a shower."

"Good idea. I was about to say that you were start to smell like an interesting combination of olives and chips."

He laughed to himself as entered the bathroom, leaving his wife to demolish the pizza.

#

By the time Romeo had come back out, shaking his hair dry with his hands, there were only a few of the smallest pieces of the meal left for him.

"Thanks for saving me some. It might be too much" he laughed, jokingly.

She kissed his cheek as she walked past him holding a stack of DVD's as she sat down on the couch, sprawling the cases over the coffee table. "You're welcome. Besides, I'm pulling out munchies now so you can fill up on that."

"It's all good" he replied, following Indi over and sitting down next to her on the lounge, wrapping an arm around her back as she studied the DVD cases.

"Anyway, I was thinking you, me, movie?"

He nodded, beginning to rub circles on her back where his hand was still present. "Sounding good…"

"But what one? You're probably not all too keen on a chick flick, right? And I'm not really feeling like a horror…"

"Well that pretty much leaves a Doco or Disney!" he chuckled with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Not that there's a problem with those options, but how about drama?" she asked, her hand gliding over to one of the DVD's furthest from her.

He nodded again, removing his hand from her back and standing up, taking the DVD cover they'd chosen over to the TV with him.

After setting the movie up and returning to the couch for the couple to get comfy, Romeo laid on his side towards the back half of the couch with Indi reclined in front of him. She rested her head on one of his arms which was acting as a pillow, as he wrapped his other arm around her waist and stomach, holding her as an extra protection from falling off the couch.

Smoothing her hair and stroking it to behind her ear, Romeo leant down, whispering in it and seizing the opportunity to kiss her cheek while their faces were so close too. "Love you."

"Love you too" she acknowledged, tilting her arm behind her to pat his shoulder, all while not looking away from the TV. "But shhh. The movie's starting babe."

He quietly complied, continuing to stroke and smooth her hair but focusing on the movie also.

#

Several hours later including the time allowed pausing the movie when Sasha and Dex came home; Romeo and Indi had just finished the final scenes and credits of the film… Well Romeo had and Indi had listened half-consciously, from where she was now facing away from Romeo, her back to the TV and curled into his body.

Laying there in silence, Romeo considered getting up and carrying his possibly sleeping wife to their room, but due to lack of motivation, tiredness and the chance she was already asleep, Romeo stayed put, closing his eyes in the beginning attempt to drift off himself before being woken by mumbled speech. "Is the movie finished?"

"Mmm."

"Okay…" she replied, yawning, despite the fact she was almost asleep already.

Forcing his eyes open, knowing his next question wouldn't stand a chance of being heard aloud if he didn't, Romeo yawned also, due to the contagiousness of Indi's action. "Did you want me to take you to bed?"

"Nah… Let's stay here."

"Okay" he said nodding rigidly as his neck already started to feel cricked from the makeshift bed and squashed positions. "We are gonna be _so_ sore in the morning…"

"Live a little, Romeo. One night out here won't wreck our backs" Indi quipped. By now, the two were becoming more awake, their eyes more alert and their speech clearer, faster and less slurred. "How did the movie end anyway? Did she end up finding the dude?"

"Course. 5 minutes into it you could tell she would."

Indi coughed jokingly. "Cough, cough, _cynic_!"

Rolling his eyes, he couldn't help but smirk.

"What? I just appreciate a good movie… Nothing wrong with that."

"And despise all others!" she laughed, her voice raising more with each word she spoke.

Moving his head closer to hers, despite the fact that they were already only centimeters apart in their embrace where they faced each other, Romeo gave her a quick kiss. "Shhh. It's late. You'll wake the others."

"Alright. 'Night Romeo."

"Goodnight. Sleep well beautiful" he replied with another kiss, stroking her cheek with his hand while they did so, before his hand trailed down to her stomach, which his hand rubbed gently. "And what about you? No kicks for me yet, hey? How about a goodnight kick for daddy?"

Indi laughed at him, secretly awed by his sweetness as she rubbed her baby bump too.

"Maybe the baby doesn't like you… I don't blame it!"

"Hey!"

She continued laughing, before remembering what Romeo had said earlier about keeping quiet for the others who were sleeping in their consecutive rooms. "I'm kidding… You know we both love you."

"Apparently" he smirked in response.

Her lips transferred to a joking pout. "That the way you wanna play it? Fine, night then."

"You know I'm just teasing…"

She nodded, yawning as she realized she was more tired than what she thought.

"Sweet dreams" he said with a final kiss on her cheek before she shuffled close to him to use his chest as a pillow. "I love you."

"Love you too."

* * *

><p><strong>So there you have it. What did you think of that one? I would be so stoked if I got the same response as I did in the last chapter! <strong>

**Anyway, another important matter. In a couple chapters time, Indi and Romeo are going to find out the gender of the baby, but I'm about as clueless as they are! I can't decide whether I want it to be a boy or a girl and so I thought I'd hand it over to my beautiful reviewers to decide. You can vote over the next 2 chapters in your reviews and I've also set up a poll on the top of my profile which you can vote in. **

**Vote in both because remember that the gender with the most votes overall wins! :D**

**Next chapter:**

**# Romeo decides to tell Brax about his suspicions over what he saw at work. **

**# Indi receives a worrying phone call from Lindsay.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15 – **

**Romeo's POV**

As soon as I woke up the next morning, I instantly regretted Indi and I's sleeping decision we made the prior night where we'd crashed on the couch after the movie, in turn inheriting a crick neck and sore back.

I noticed Indi's eyes flickering before opening.

"Morning" I greeted while massaging the back of my neck with a groan, before I sat up a little on the lounge.

"Morning… How sore are you?"

"On a scale of one to ten?... I think my back's broken"

She laughed at me feebly rubbing a spot that was sort of in-between back/hip territory, before feigning her amused sympathy. "Aw, my poor boy!"

Equally as genuine as her last comment which she had to stop herself from laughing during it, my bottom lip drooping in a dramatized matter to make the most of the fake sympathy.

"Well that's not a good look!" Indi laughed as her hand stroked my cheek tenderly.

I shrugged, unable to hide my amused smile. We couldn't help but tease each other. "Too bad. You're stuck with me… And my lips in whatever form I choose."

"Valid point. But I'm personally rooting for this form…" she whispered as her head neared mine, until our lips locked seconds later.

As our kiss deepened, she relaxed back to the point that she was laying flat on the couch and I held myself up over top of her. She was the only thing I was focused on and everything else seemed to fade away as I became solely enchanted by our intense kissing session… Well as focused as you could be until a shriek interrupted us.

Instantly pulling apart, Indi looked behind her as I looked up to determine the reason behind the random noise… otherwise known as my sister-in-law.

Sasha walked past us on the couch quickly, scurrying over to the kitchen. "Sorry! I wasn't expecting to walk into _that_!"

Neither of us said anything in response and I was a little bit agitated by yet another case of a lack of privacy, but then again, making out in the lounge room of a shared house was kind of asking for trouble to something of that degree.

"Sister's I tell you…" Indi grumbled under her breath, loud enough for only me to hear.

"Never mind" I replied, leaning down once again to kiss her cheek, before I sat up properly on the couch, with my actions obviously inspiring Indi who proceeded to force herself up, using my chest as a backrest and sprawled out along my body from where she sat on my lap.

We sat in silence for a few minutes, amusing ourselves by alternating between playing with each other's hands, hair and faces while Sasha 'quickly' made her breakfast.

Even after she left the room, telling us to proceed 'as we were', Indi and I sat in silence, just enjoying and absorbing the peace and quiet that we were left with to enjoy each other's company.

A few more minutes passed and I was currently parting Indi's blonde locks into sections, taking turns to twist and twirl each of them around my fingers. I could feel her relax as she rested further against my front, until her muscles tensed and her arms clenched inwards, towards her hips as she whispered my name.

"What? What's wrong?"

"It's kicking again" she beamed, pulling one of my hands from where it was in her hair, dragging it over to her stomach.

My hand rested on the material of her nightgown and feeling nothing while I waited with anticipation, my heart started pounding so embarrassingly fast.

My fingertips tightened on her stomach as I waited and noticed not just physically, but also visually, that my hands were shaking just slightly and I was getting worried that I would miss the possible next kick due to the fault of my own nerves.

Nerves? Was I seriously nervous about my own child? And just feeling it kick at that? I mentally lectured myself over the fact that after everything I've been through and experienced in my life, I was getting nervous from something so tiny that was according to Sid, probably around the size of a mobile phone.

It was incredible that something that powerless and fragile had such a strong power and affect on me.

Drifting back to reality, I was overwhelmed by the recognition of movement from my wife's belly, only as strong as what a tap on your finger would feel like in comparison.

"Did you feel that? Could you feel it?" Indi checked excitedly, mere seconds later.

I nodded slowly, having to pick my jaw up off the floor before I could reply in words. "That… That was the baby?" I asked stupidly, still in my state of disbelief.

"No Romeo. It was Dex" was Indi's sarcastic response that came with a bonus eye roll in addition.

"I know… Just, wow" I added, still struggling to form complete, sane sentences. Well done me!

She smiled. "Pretty impressive, hey?"

"No kidding!" I replied, returning the smile and gradually gaining my composure also. Indi nodded and I felt her relax again from her tension when the baby had kicked. She shuffled onto her side, wrapping her arms around me and my waist as my stomach became her personal pillow.

Within the next few minutes, Indi had fallen back to sleep and I checked the time on the clock with work in mind, but after watching Indi sleeping peacefully, perfectly, I too drifted back to sleep…

#

"I am so sorry man. It won't happen again anytime soon" I said, apologizing instantly to my boss as I rushed into Angelo's while fixing my clothes that I'd more or less thrown on as I had gotten in the car on the way to work.

Brax nodded, coolly as always. "Don't make a habit of it. Good thing we had Case here to cover you" he added, gesturing to his younger brother who looked bored, with a noticeable 'I-wish-I-was-anywhere-but-here' attitude.

"Thanks mate" I acknowledged, slapping Casey's shoulder as I walked straight past him into the kitchen to get started with work. There were two other guys in the kitchen when I entered, Drew, who I'd seen participating in the unusual exchange yesterday being one of them.

Preparing a few of the take-away orders which I'd have to deliver once I'd finished, I considered mentioning something to Brax about that. If it _was_ a dodgy situation and I'd had knowledge of it but kept it to myself, then I knew that my head would be on the chopping block just as much as theirs would be.

#

After several long, hard hours of working, I looked up to the big clock on the wall of the entrance from the phone orders which I was currently sorting through and double checking, just happening to see Indi walk into the room, towards me.

She looked stunning.

It wasn't like she was dressed up for a special occasion or anything, just wearing everyday leggings with a strawberry-red coloured shirt which happened to accentuate her baby bump. I could also tell that there was no excessive makeup use or anything, but despite all that, she looked radiant.

She glided over to me with a beaming glow. "Hey. How's work?"

"Hi beautiful. It _was_ fine, until a certain someone decided to sidetrack me with getting me to think about how much of a lucky guy I am…"

She smiled, letting out a small chuckle before gesturing to the door. "Do you want me to leave if that's the case?"

"No, no, definitely not! I finish soon anyway. You can wait if you want."

She scanned the room quickly before leaning over the counter to give me a quick kiss. "I know. That's why I came."

I shot her another smile before putting my head down to finish double-checking the orders with an incentive for finishing as quickly as possible, knowing as soon as I did, I was free.

Within the next 10 minutes I had finished the orders and was free to leave with Indi. As we were walking out of the restaurant, down the stairs to the surf club, Brax was walking inside holding one of the red pizza delivery warmers from where he'd been doing a few lunch deliveries around the Bay that were in walking distance.

"Hold on a sec babe, I'll be back in a minute" I told her quickly, kissing her temple before I raced up to Brax and caught his attention.

"What can I do for ya?" he asked as he swung the empty bag over his shoulder.

I grabbed the back of my neck as I wondered whether I was doing the right thing or not for the last time... It was too late now I guess... "Well, yesterday at work, it was just me Yabba and Drew in 'ere doing clean up after lunch and I dunno, I guess I just saw something that looked a bit suspicious. I thought I should mention it to you."

Brax nodded seriously. "Alright. What sort of sus?"

"I just saw them exchanging something subtly. It didn't look right. I don't know exactly what it was or anything, but-"

"I get where you're coming from. Thanks… Leave it with me."

I nodded in response as Brax slapped my back and walked off. Turning around and walking back over to Indi, she grabbed my arm looking at me with a combination of confusion and worry. "What was that about?"

"Nothing. Just work" I shrugged, trying my best to be casual, but I mean I wasn't really lying anyway. It _was_ technically about work, I just hadn't told her about what I'd seen. The last time I'd accidentally been involved in the River Boys drug trafficking, it had nearly landed me in hot water with the cops too. Not to mention, Indi hadn't been the happiest about it the first time so I feared how she'd take it now for the second time even if there was nothing to worry about, especially with her added hormones…

**Indi's POV **

"Are you sure?" I asked him, thinking back to a few minutes ago and remembering how serious the brief encounter between Romeo and Brax had looked from where I was standing. "It seemed more serious than work."

"No, no. Its fine" he replied, assuring me definitively before receiving a text message on his phone.

"Who is it?"

"No-one" Romep replied quickly before looking at his watch. "I am so sorry Indi... I forgot about something. I thought I'd have more time for us to hang out, but I just remembered that I gotta run."

He pressed a quick kiss on my lips before starting to walk off, leaving me in a bit of a spin. Everything over the last few minutes felt really fast and really weird… First the conversation with the boys and then Romeo's sudden departure… It was obscure.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"Uh, I've got a lesson in a few minutes."

I nodded, a little bit annoyed that after I had been waiting for him at work, just for him to leave me like that. I'd been hoping we could go for a walk on the beach or something at least together and make the most of the afternoon. "Do you want me to come and keep you company?"

"No, don't worry about it. I don't think it'll be a quick lesson - she likes lots of advice and criticism, so it'll be a while and besides, I'm going to have a surf of my own after it, so I'll just see you back home later?"

I nodded as he walked back over to me, giving me another quick kiss before leaving again and leaving me there to contemplate what I could do... I didn't have my purse on me currently so I couldn't make any purchases and I knew that the café would be busy, meaning I couldn't really saunter in there with the hopes of just hanging around and talking to the girls who were working at the moment.

In the end, I just decided to go home and work on that marketing folio that I'd been putting off doing for way too long…

#

I'd been home for several hours now, sitting in my room and typing my assignment up on my laptop when my phone started going berserk next to me, otherwise known as receiving a call.

I saw the caller I.D was Lindsay and at first I was a bit skeptical. She could've been calling about something regarding Uni, but after having a tiff a few months back, we'd barely spoken at all lately.

"Hello?"

"Hey Indi. How are you going?"

"Fine…"

I listened to my former friend let out a sigh. Was it a sigh of sorrow? Relief? "That's good, are you sure? I wouldn't be doing anywhere near as well as you!"

"What do you mean? Anywhere near as well as me?"

"With Romeo… I feel really bad that I didn't know sooner. You should've told me, I could've been there for you."

She'd already lost me a few sentences ago, but now I was _really_ confused. I had no idea whatsoever what she was talking about and what she meant about Romeo. "I'm sorry, but I don't understand you Lindsay. What do you mean 'with Romeo'?"

"I just saw Romeo with his girlfriend. I didn't know you guys had split."

I laughed Lindsay off through the line, but really, I had nearly dropped my phone as I felt my stomach plummet. "I still don't know what you're talking about. We're still together. It can't have been him."

"Really? Oh okay… He looked pretty close with the girl at the coffee shop in Reefton… Actually It's probably all a misunderstanding. It might not have been him at all!" she replied, before she began to laugh too which was followed by an awkward silence.

"Anyway, I'm glad that you're still together and all good and stuff. I've gotta get going. See you at Uni."

"Yeah, bye…" I replied before ending the call with shaky hands.

I tried to calm myself down and rationalize the phone call which had me as scared as hell.

All it takes is just trust, right? Besides, he had a lesson. Reefton's kilometers away from the beach! I had to trust him with that and stop the mental image of him having a coffee cozily with either Annie or Ruby from worming itself into my mind...

I inhaled a deep breath, setting my mind the task of checking and going through what I'd completed of my assignment so far. That I _could_ do…

#

It was probably around half an hour, or even closer to an hour later when I heard the creak of the front door opening from my room.

"Indi? You home?" was the next noise that followed it, being yelled throughout the house. I stood up from bed and walked out to see Romeo, still trying not to think about the stupid-ness of Lindsay's call.

"Yeah…" I replied as I walked towards my husband with the intention of an embracive greeting, before I stopped on the spot.

He was completely dry. No towel. No wet hair. Even the familiar salty smell of fresh air didn't follow him inside as it usually did.

My stomach dropped and my heart started pounding rapidly as the hormonally-accentuated combination of anger and hurt flooded through me...

* * *

><p><strong>So, this chapter I tried something a bit different out and for the first time wrote from specifics point of views. I personally prefer third person, but what did you guys think? If you like it, I'll keep practicing my on the whole perspectives thing! <strong>

**Also, the chapter after the next one is where the baby's gender will be revealed! Thank you to everyone that's voted so far! Right now, a baby... $? # is winning by one vote! You can re-vote in your review for this chapter, even if you already have because it will be the highest total number that wins. Also, if you haven't already done so, vote in the poll too! Not long left!**

**Next chapter:**

**# Indi tests Romeo's honesty. **

**# Has Romeo got a good excuse or was Lindsay right all along?**

**# Romeo is attacked.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Indi's POV

My heart was pounding rapidly out of my chest and the skin of my palms were clamming up. I looked over to Romeo once more, observing and noting his puzzling dryness which made no sense whatsoever if he really had been telling me the truth - that he was going for a swim after the surfing lesson I'd previously had no idea about.

I could've yelled at him immediately, shouting the accusing names and labels at him after fearing the worst if I allowed myself to lose control. But I didn't.

I took a deep breath, gathered all my effort together to squeeze out a smile and decided to give him one last chance with honesty.

"How was your surf?"

He smiled, chirpily and seemed pleased with himself. "Yeah, it was pretty good. Bit flat out there for a while but the waves gradually picked up before I came out."

That was it. That was the last straw. He had just blatantly lied to my face, completely willingly and thinking that I didn't know any better from the story I was being fed. But I did know better.

I lunged towards him and my hands shoved his chest as soon as they reached him. "YOU LIAR! If you were surfing, then where's your towel? Why aren't you wet? Lindsay called... She said that she saw you having a coffee in Reefton Lakes with another girl... So who was it? Annie? Ruby?

His chirpy smile faded from his face within milliseconds. Serves him right.

"No!" he shouted in response, his eyes looking desperate. "It was Sasha!"

I rolled my eyes, taking several steps away from him with crossed arms. "If you want to use another pathetic cover story like the 'surfing' one then I suggest that you put a bit more research into it. Sasha had a double shift at the diner today."

"I know she did! I took her to Reefton in between her break!"

"I can't believe you! You don't even have the guts to own up to it and admit it!" I yelled, as I teared up from my upset and hormonal fury and prepared myself to make an exit, shoving him once again, this time in the arm on my way out. "That's so low, Romeo! I trusted you and I thought you were better than this..."

"I PROMISE you that it was Sasha!" he screeched as I stormed past him and out of the front door.

I don't know which direction I was headed in, but I kept walking as fast as my body let me, past the fruit trees and seemingly headed for walking up the long driveway. All the while being fully aware that Romeo was still traipsing behind me.

"Indi! Talk to me! Just listen! Please!" he yelled, beginning to run to get ahead of me.

I angrily turned to face him as his hand latched onto my wrist. I didn't want a bar of him. "Get away! Don't touch me, don't talk to me - just leave me alone!"

He'd sighed loudly and I felt the weight and grasp from his hand drop, prompting me to just keep on walking to walk out my angry rage.

#

Later that night, I returned to the Farmhouse after spending much of the rest of the afternoon walking aimlessly around the farm which was really tiring work by now. I knew that Romeo wouldn't be at home anymore because I'd seen his car speed off several hours earlier, a few minutes after I had yelled at him to leave. I contemplated having a nap to make up for the energy I'd lost from walking around the farm, but didn't really feel calm enough yet to do so presently, deciding to revise and highlight points from my notes instead.

By the time that I heard someone walk inside forty-five minutes later, I was pleased with the amount I'd gotten done, despite a few kicking distractions that were originating from my belly.

"Hey Sash" I greeted, looking up at my younger sister. "I wasn't expecting you home so early. You had a splitty."

"Yeah, Leah had it pretty much under control and they were a bit overstaffed and since I'd started earliest, I finished first... You know the drill."

I nodded at her and she took a seat next to me, moving my papers and highlighters that were covering the part of the table in front of her to the side. I watched as she threw her bag on the table, pulling out her phone and a dark-coloured square box that was a size which surprised me that she could fit it in her handbag.

I put my head back down to my page and out of the corner of my eye, saw Sasha opening the box to reveal an assortment of dark, medium and white chocolate squares and circles with a variety of different patterns and streaks on top of them to enable easy identification.

"Hey! I thought you said you were outta money until you get paid on the weekend... Well that was your excuse when I bought you that magazine the other day!"

"Still broke. They're a gift from your husband. Well sort of anyway... I choose them and stuff and he paid" Sasha replied, shoving a chocolate square in her mouth at the end of her sentence.

I shot her a confused look, helping myself to one of her chocolates. "Um, no offense Sash, but isn't he meant to be buying _me_ chocolates? Not my sister?"

"Mm, probably, but it was kind of like his payment to me" she nodded, adding another chocolate to her bodily chute as her face lit up. "Ooh, rocky road! Nice!"

"What kind of payment?"

"I'm sworn to secrecy for the time-being, sorry, but I will say that it's got something to do with you - you're gonna love it! Anyway, it was sort of like my time being traded for him buying me these choccies & a large coffee in return while we were out! Not bad if I may say so myself!"

I felt a pang of guilt. He _had_ been telling the truth all along and once again, I hadn't trusted him. Sasha didn't know anything about our argument earlier and she didn't know about the phone call with Lindsay, yet she had unknowingly confirmed Romeo's alibi and the suspicions that Lindsay had presented me with. Of course they would've been close together if they were out together. The two lived in the same house and were as close as brother and sister without the blood bond. I don't know why they were out together at Reefton, but after all the problems that my lack of trust had caused before now, I took it as my cue to leave it be, trust him and back off.

To make it up to him, I decided that I'd cook his favourite meal, chicken Surf & Turf, which we rarely have, for dinner tonight.

_"Talked to Sasha. I'm sorry. Please come home for dinner. Love you baby Xox": _I typed, forming my cowardly text message apology to Romeo.

Continuing to sit at the table with Sasha scoffing her chocolates next to me, I kept looking at my phone until I received a reply.

_"So now do you believe me? Fine I'll head back":_ was the reply message that I received about 5 minutes later. I could even sense the sarcastic mockery in the first sentence. Not to mention no kisses or hugs at the end... Heck, Romeo really was annoyed with me.

I stood up and walked over to the sink to wash my hands, checking with Sasha what her dinner and evening plans were, requesting that she make herself scarce. Dad & Dex both had night-shift tonight and if it wasn't for her, we would have the place to ourselves... Which would of been the perfect opportunity for me to make it up to him.

Anyway, after that, I got started on cooking up dinner planning to leave the warm things which needed to be cooked last, for when Romeo got home and I'd cook them at the last minute then.

In-between preparation, I set up the room, with the aim of creating an atmosphere that was as romantic as possible.

#

By half past eight that same night, I was sitting restlessly on the lounge, watching the candle on the dining table flickering weaker and weaker. Sasha was already in her room, doing goodness knows what and I was still waiting for my husband to return home... Several hours after receiving his message which claimed that he'd be home soon.

I was getting really annoyed because of the effort I'd put into creating dinner and the set up, especially for him. It was probably his way of showing his annoyance too, to get me annoyed with him because he was annoyed at me. Bit of a vicious circle I guess.

Anyway, it was getting late, the quality of our dinner was disintegrating and my patience was growing short. I stood up uncomfortably and picked my phone up from the bench at the same time as I heard the door open.

"What took you so long?" I shouted with annoyance at a loud volume so the expected entrant could hear my question as I walked over to the door, only to get a shocking surprise...

My husband wasn't alone as I was expecting him to be.

My younger and only brother was next to him, balancing some of his weight and gripping onto his hip as support to keep him upright.

The scene would've been laughable if it had ordinarily just been Romeo draped over Dex as they walked inside together. Physically, the two were total polar opposites with regards to everything from height, to hair colour, to skin-tone, to eye colouring. However, there was no possible way that I could laugh after realizing the state of my husband.

"Romeo! Oh my goodness! What happened to you? Are you alright?" I asked hysterically as I rushed over to his side, holding onto his shoulder as I helped Dex lead him to the lounge.

His bottom lip was split with evidently fresh blood still shining as the top coat. Both eyes, one in particular was tainted with red swelling and bruising, similarly to his other injuries that were sprawled throughout what I could see of his body. They obviously looked tender and painful, proven by his difficulty walking and flinching assumedly from the pain.

"What on earth happened? Who did this to you?"

Romeo just slowly lay back against the lounge and Dex grabbed iceblocks from the freezer, explaining as he walked back over.

"Liam brought him into the hospital a couple of hours ago after he pulled him out of a fight. A group of the River Boys were attacking him near the beach. Apparently there were about 5 or 6 onto 1."

I stroked his cheek gently, avoiding the tender looking parts which were bruised or red. "Oh my gosh. Why did they do that? Why were you fighting with them in the first place?"

"I didn't initiate anything... A couple of them approached me and just started punching. I think Brax fired two of them" he replied, speaking slowly and softly and I could tell that each word he spoke was hurting him.

I gave him a small hug, more or less just consisting of me placing my arms on his waist with no tension, in case he had more bruises or injuries under his shirt which I couldn't see. "Why?"

"Long story" he replied as he shifted and stood up, with his face clenched up. "I'm going to bed."

I nodded, standing up and following him to our bedroom. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"No. I got painkillers at the hospital from your dad" he replied, and tried to take of his shirt with difficulty, especially with his arm which had a light bandage wrapped around it.

I walked over to him and gently moved his hand away from the shirt. "Here, I got it" I informed softly, taking hold of his shirt and pulling it over his head before even more carefully removing his arms from the material individually.

"Thanks" he said, trying to attempt a small smile that came across through his eyes more than his lips.

I pulled the quilt away from the pillow, pushing it down the bed so that he could lie down easily.

With a couple more groans, he laid down, shifting from his sides, to his back, to his stomach and repeated the movements several times. "I don't know which hurts the least. It's all uncomfortable."

"I can relate..." I replied, rubbing my baby bump. "With this in the way, sleeping comfortably is close to impossible." Although my expanding belly was only small at this stage, it still managed to become incredibly uncomfortable.

I looked over to Romeo again who was lying flat on his stomach and already looked half asleep. I stroked his hair gently; restoring order to it after it must have been messed up during the attack. He was nearly asleep, if not already and I got up, walking back out to the kitchen to fill a glass with water for him in case he might need it if he woke up during the night.

Dex was sitting at the table on his phone and drinking from a mug when I walked in.

"How is he now?"

"Seems okay... He's nearly asleep which is good I guess."

"What? He's sleeping? ... And you're letting him? Indi wake him up! He could have a concussion!"

I gasped and rushed back to my bedroom as fast as I could safely and began shaking Romeo awake, until I saw his eyes fluttering open and heard a loud groan of pain which followed it.

"INDI!" he screeched at me before yelping in pain. I jumped back; away from the bed out of reflex before realizing that I must have unintentionally been too rough when I was woke him, hurting him more in the process.

"I'm so sorry" I apologized softly, gently touching his back. "I didn't mean to hurt you... But come on, you've got to get out of bed and stay awake."

He groaned again grumpily before taking what seemed like 5 minutes to manoeuvre himself as painlessly as possible out of bed. I waited, before helping him plod out of the room slowly into the lounge room.

"Look at the pair of you!" Dex laughed, leaning back against the bench so as to 'sit back, relax, and enjoy the show' of our mutual discomfort with walking. "Romeo's walking like a cripple and you're waddling like a duck, Indi!"

As my younger brother received two glares, Romeo and I growled at him in unison. "Shut up Dex!"

He sheepishly put his head down and continued with what he was doing and I lead Romeo over to the single seated recliner.

"What do you want to do babe? We need to keep you awake."

Romeo shrugged his shoulders as his eyes attempted to slowly shut. "Don't care..."

"Come on. Please stay awake for me..." I stroked his cheek, gently shaking it in an attempt to awaken him up more from his drowsiness. I grabbed my mobile phone off the coffee table and unlocked it, handing it to him. "Here. Play a game or watch a movie or something. Just keep your eyes open."

He nodded, scrolling through the pages and I got up again to walk back to our room to get some bedding. Having to do two trips, I carried both of our pillows out, dropping one on the second recliner for me and then helping Romeo to position the other one behind his back and just at the bottom of his neck. The second time I returned, I pulled our quilt together, scruffily moulding it into a loose circle so I could carry it in my arms and resting on my belly, taking it out to the lounge room.

I threw the quilt across Romeo's lap and straightened it out so that it was spread evenly across our two recliners before I sat down, covering myself with my half and adjusting my pillow.

"Thank you babe" Romeo said in a whisper with a small smile as he looked over to me. "Thank you for looking after me."

"Anytime Romeo... I love you."

"I love you too." I smiled back at him as he pressed his lips to my hand which he had reached over and grabbed.

... And that was the start of our long, tiring night with neither of us sleeping. Romeo was staying awake to avoid concussion, and I was staying awake to ensure that he didn't fall sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry all, it's been a few weeks between updates, but I kept changing my mind over the chapter and what was happening in it as well as the order which everything was going to happen in. Thankfully though, I'm a lot happier with how it went now and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! <strong>

**Also, this is your last chance to vote for the gender of baby Smith!**

**Let me know if you think it should be a baby boy or baby girl through either your review (even if you've done so in your reviews of past chapters) and through the poll. **

**Next Chapter:**

**# It's 'Game On' in the Walker household. **

**# Romeo & Indi learn the gender of their baby. **


	17. Chapter 17

**So this chapter's the big gender reveal... Read to discover! And enjoy!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 17 – <strong>

It was several weeks after Romeo had been attacked and life had continued on as normal. The couple's fight prior to some of the River Boys ganging up on Romeo after he had gotten two of them fired had been well forgotten. The injuries Romeo had sustained were gradually healing and fading away, leaving only the odd black bruise or healing cut. However, despite Indi's occasional subtle and not-so-subtle hints, neither Romeo nor Sasha had caved in and told her what the aim of their day out together had been. The outing which had sparked Romeo and Indi's whole argument over the mystery woman he'd been with, who turned out innocently to be Sasha, before his attack.

Currently, it was a Saturday morning on the Walker Farm and although the schedules of each individual had the potential for and allowed a sleep-in, everyone, even Dex who was half-asleep against the fridge, was up and out of bed.

There was a certain vibe and energy in the house, one of excitement and anticipation. Today was the day that the questions would be answered and the discovery would be made of whether the members of the household would be welcoming a son or a daughter, a grandson or granddaughter, or a nephew or niece into the world in a few months time.

Everyone knew that Indi had another doctor's appointment today from not only the big red circle that was marked around today's date on the calendar, but also from the excited mother-to-be's 'countdown' reminders for the last fortnight. The first appointment regarding her pregnancy, Indi had been scared to death and felt worried sick over all the possibilities and abnormalities that she feared for her unborn child, before it was given the early stage all clear tick, but with this appointment – the all important 20 week scan, she couldn't wait.

In the kitchen, Sid was reading the daily paper, Sasha was cooking breakfast for herself and the others, Dex was concentrating on waking up properly, Romeo was filling yet another cup of water and trying to hand it to Indi who was flicking through the bunch of paper's that were in her hand to ensure she had all the ones that would be needed by her doctor today.

"Come on. Drink up, Indi. You heard what your dad said. If you don't drink enough water then the doctor might not be able to see the baby well enough to tell" Romeo reasoned, with his desperation of knowing the sex of his child outweighing his wife's whines about how full she was and the constant claims that she was going to explode before they even got to the hospital.

Indi groaned, drinking the glassful of water before rubbing her belly. "Even the baby's telling me it's going to explode. It's kicking so much that I think it's going to be the next Warren Tredrea."

"Seriously?" Romeo smiled, rubbing her stomach affectionately as he waited for another kick. "And cough, cough, I think you'll find that those little legs will be great for _surfing_."

She laughed at him, rubbing his shoulder that was close to her as he continued waiting. "Here we go again..." Indi warned as she felt a light kick that she knew would be followed by more to come.

"Heck! What have you been eating? It's going crazy!" Romeo laughed before concentrating on feeling the kicks. "Okay, how about this? Next time it kicks, one kick says it's a girl and two kicks say it's a boy."

Indi nodded, laughing slightly at his suggestion and waited intently for the next sequence of kicks.

"One... Two... Three" Romeo counted aloud. "Hey, was that just me or were there three kicks?"

"Yeah, there was at least three that time. What does that mean then? Twins?" she joked as Romeo face began to pale and drain of colour.

"I hope not. That whole kick thing was a stupid idea anyway. It doesn't mean anything."

Indi laughed at his change in attitude and reaction, kissing his cheek before he remembered the task that he'd taken on himself this morning. "Now where's your cup? I'll get you another glass of water before we go."

"No, please no!" she pleaded as a whine was beginning to take form. "I'll be having nightmares of water and of you shoving it down my throat tonight!"

Ignoring her plea, he filled the glass up once more and walked back over to her, grabbing his keys and phone on his way so that he was ready to leave. "Come on! Last one! Then we can go."

"Fine" she agreed with annoyance, sculling down the water as fast as she could before grabbing her handbag from her room. "Are you ready to go now Romeo?"

"You bet I am" was Romeo's enthusiastic response.

Indi nodded, as she quickly searched through her handbag to ensure she had everything she needed. "Okay. I'm set. Bye guys!"

There was a chorus of 'byes' and 'good lucks' that filled the room with the sudden noise coming from Sid, Dex and Sasha who were staying put at the farm. The couple thanked their family members as they departed from the house, bound for the hospital.

#

A good ten minutes after Romeo and Indi left, Sasha entered the kitchen again where her father and brother hadn't moved from (apart from Dex was now sitting at the table too), unlike herself.

"So! My money's on a boy!" Sasha announced out of the blue. "And I'm going $20 in on it."

Dex looked up at her disgustedly from the table he was staring at. "Sasha! This is our niece or nephew that we're talking about here... _Not_ a poker game!"

"Oh come on Dex! We can kill two birds with one stone with this and make the most of it!"

"I don't think _killing_ should be used as an appropriate analogy in this scenario."

Sasha rolled her eyes at her elder brother to show her disagreement. "Its harmless fun and one of us could make a profit from it - and that one of us will be _me_."

"I still don't think it's morally acceptable, Sasha."

"Beg to differ. Cause you'll join in with me too, right dad?" Sasha replied, looking over to her dad for answer.

Sid looked up from his article that he was only semi-reading while listening to his youngest children's debate. "Well I personally don't see anything wrong with it. You'd be surprised by the number of patients I've heard of doing that sort of thing, even with my limited experience in the maternity ward. I guess it's really up to Indi and Romeo and whether they mind you betting on their baby."

"Pfft, we can check with them later" Sasha said as she waved her hand carelessly before becoming more excited. "So are you in, dad? Boy or a girl?"

"You know what? I think I'm going to go in with $50 for a boy."

"Wow! Some big spending going on there... Except I already said a boy, so it's not going to be much of a win."

Dex exhaled loudly, to make his hesitance known before he spoke. "Fine, I'll say $35 for a girl."

"Yay!" the brunette squealed as she got up and wrapped her arms around her brother in a hug. "But I've got Dad and his doctor-ness on my side, so sorry to say it, but you're goin' _down _Dexter!"

"I think you'll find that you will both be wrong. If you think about their genetics, there's no doubt that it _won't_ be a girl" Dex replied smartly as he warmed to the competition and was brought up to speed with his and Sasha's usual competitive debates.

"Yeah... No. It's totes going to be a boy!"

Dex smirked, connecting his fingertips in front of his head to give himself the _evil genius_ appearance. "And what evidence do you have to base that prediction on, young Padawan?"

"Well it's going to be a boy because Indi's not good with the whole sharing concept, so I know that Indi would hate sharing the spot and title of being Romeo's girl."

After Sasha explained her reasoning, both of the Walker men had to stop themselves from quaking with laughter.

"Right, Sasha. But I'm fairly sure there's more to it than that. I don't think the baby's gender will be based on Indi's ability to share or not. _However_, if you study the Smith _and_ the Walker family genetics, you will notice a pattern. Look at the current, not to mention most considerably epic, generation of Walker's; Indi, myself and you. Indi, a girl, was the firstborn child. Look at the current generation of Romeo's family; Mink and himself; the firstborn was Mink, again a girl. Now I don't know about the rest of his family, but the firstborn child being a girl is a pattern that continued through Dad's generation, along with our grandparents. To conclude, I'm certain that Indi and Romeo's firstborn will be a daughter, _also_."

"Wow, you've given that a lot of thought. And despite the fact that I nearly fell asleep halfway through your oral essay, I'm surprised that you weren't more enthusiastic about betting!"

Sid looked up again. "Yes, Dexter. You've certainly given that a lot of thought.

"I'm a nerd; it's what I do. Besides, it's just basic biology" Dex reasoned casually, but as his cheeks flushed with a tinge of red.

"Reasonable claim" Sid snickered in amusement before being questioned by his youngest daughter. "And what about you, dad? Why do you think it's a boy?"

"Well I don't believe in the whole genetics side of biology and pregnancy like Dex does as there's still a 50/50 chance for everyone, but I guess it's just an instinct, medical or parental instinct if you like... just a gut feeling I have."

"Oh and you think 'a gut feeling's' a whole lot more accurate than genetics?" Dex questioned firmly, really starting to take the competition seriously.

Sid shook his head calmly. "No. I never said that it was, but without the certainty of the ultrasound, it's impossible to pin-point an accurate way of discovering a baby's gender at his stage. It's all a chance thing."

"Alright!" Sasha said loudly, a few decibels away from a shout. "So, I say $20 for boy, Dad says $50 for boy and Dex who's typically behind the trend, says $35 for a girl, right? And let's throw in a week's worth of chores around the house too. "

Her brother and father that were currently in Sasha's acquaintance agreed, confirming her summary, and like that, the bets were laid and that was that... Now they had to play the waiting game until they heard anything from either Indi or Romeo...

#

The drive to the hospital had felt longer and more drawn out than usual for the couple and by the time they were waiting as they sat in the corridor opposite the room, the 20 minutes which had passed from the time they'd left the farm to arriving had felt like 20 hours instead.

"Nervous?" Romeo guessed, noticing Indi's unusual action of tapping her hands on the top of her legs, which he knew was generally a sign that she was either nervous or trying to keep her cool when angry.

She looked up at him from her daze, giving a quick nod. "Yeah, a bit; I think I'm nervously excited, perhaps?"

"I know what you mean. Me too" was Romeo's reply as he too nodded in acknowledgement of her. "What do you think it is, Indi?"

Indi gestured to the bulge in her stomach, getting an affirmative nod from Romeo before she spoke. "Well I'm feeling pretty confident that it's a baby..."

"Ha ha, you know what I mean. Girl or a boy, though?" Romeo asked with an amused smile now appearing.

"Honestly? I have no idea. I've heard that apparently some pregnant women have inklings about the gender of their baby, but I really haven't. Some days I think it might be a boy, other days I think it's a girl! Maybe it really _is_ twins..." she suggested, laughing to herself. "What about you? What do you think the baby is?"

He shrugged uncertainly. "I don't know. I really have no idea – Well, I stand by the fact that I'd love a girl, but regardless and either way, I know that I'm going to love our kid to pieces!"

Indi's face lit up and she leaned closer to her husband, kissing him briefly before pulling away after hearing the click of the door opening.

"Hello, you must be Indigo Smith?" the female doctor, who would've been in her early 30's asked as she walked up to Romeo and Indi, offering her hand out to Indi.

Indi nodded as she shook her new doctor's hand. "Yeah, that's me."

"Now you're Doctor Sid Walker's daughter, aren't you? I believe that it was mentioned when he organized for you to switch doctors."

The first appointment Indi had attended regarding her pregnancy, it was still little known about the baby and by only the couple and Sasha at that stage, then after Sid was told, he recommended that she change obstetricians and made appointments for her with the best one that he knew of in the area, wanting nothing short of the best for his daughter.

Again, Indi nodded at her doctor who proceeded to lead her and Romeo into the room as she gushed about how much she admired her father as a doctor – which wasn't the first time that Indi had heard the spiel about his admirable skills and career.

By the time that the three were all sitting, her doctor had finally snapped out of talking about Sid and focused on her job. After going through the check up, checking that Indi hadn't experienced any unusual or worrying things with the pregnancy and that her blood pressure, heart-rate and such other levels were normal, the more enjoyable and interesting part of the appointment began.

They moved over to the reclined chair, Indi lying down on it as her husband and doctor hovered from where they were standing. The worst part in Indi's opinion, having the freezing cold gel applied to the skin of her uncovered lower stomach was made easier as Romeo took her hand, kissing it and stroking it as a distraction for her to focus on something else.

As the doctor spread the gel, turning the machine on and getting a better picture of the baby, she began topical small-talk with the couple, asking whether they'd looked at names yet or started preparing a nursery before checking if they wanted to learn the gender of their child or not if it was possible to see – which both were eager for.

"Wow, it's so much bigger since last time!" Indi commented in awe as she watched the digital monitor, clearly being able to distinguish individual arms, legs, ears and even fingers of the baby.

Romeo made fun of her obvious statement. "I'm glad about that; I'd be getting worried if it hadn't!" He let out a laugh, despite being just as amazed as his wife before the doctor interrupted and turned their attention fully back to the monitor.

"Here we go..." she commented, before grimacing and continuing to speak. "Actually, the baby isn't in a very good position right now and although I think I can tell, I can't be as sure as I would like to be."

"Drat! All that water for nothing" was Indi's first reaction after her doctor mentioned that.

"Don't worry too much. I'll try again a little again later to see if it's moved at all by then and I'm hoping that it should've just enough" she explained before walking back over to her desk and bringing Indi's file with her.

She proceeded to do a few more checks, jotting down measurements and such like on the paper for another 15 minutes or so while Indi and Romeo just absorbed their child's movements like watching it clench it's fist, sucking it's thumb and kicking which they found especially amazing considering the two could see it and feel it at the same time. After informing them that the baby's growth was on target and progressing at the rate it was expected to, the doctor closed the file and zoomed in closer to the baby again. "Okay, this is the last chance. Here's hoping that it's second time lucky!"

The couple smiled and Romeo squeezed Indi's hand as they waited until the doctor let out a satisfied breath.

"I guess I was right the first time. You're having a little boy" the doctor smiled.

After an initial gasp, Indi babbled excitedly "Oh my goodness; that's so amazing" She beamed as she shook her speechless husband's arm. "Romeo! We're gonna have a son!"

"Wow. I don't even know what to say to that" he replied, not knowing exactly _how_ to reply, but with the proud grin on his face saying it all.

The appointment wrapped up soon after that, leaving the couple to return home together in their own little bubble of happiness.

#

After keeping her ears on guard all morning and through to the early afternoon that it now was in the day, Sasha galloped out of her room and towards the door as soon as she heard it open.

"WHAT IS IT? WHATISIT, WHATISIT?" Sasha squealed with excitement as she reached her brother-in-law and sister who had just entered the house.

Indi's face lit up as she was reminded, pulling the ultrasound photo out of her handbag and presenting it to her younger sister. "Here's a new photo of your _nephew_."

"It's a boy?" Sasha confirmed excitedly as she looked up at Indi momentarily before looking back at the photo and taking it all in and studying the form of the baby.

"Sure is."

Taking the photo with her, Sasha rushed into the kitchen where her father and brother were, waving the photo around with glee. "DAD! We won!"

Dex let out a groan of defeat, throwing his hands over his face before getting up and following Sid over to the couple.

"That's great news sweetheart!" Sid smiled, pulling Indi into a hug before they pulled apart and he moved over and shook his son-in-law's hand. "Congratulations Romeo."

Dex followed similarly behind, hugging and congratulating his sister, telling her he was happy for them, apart from the fact it was contributing to a financial loss for him, before he too walked over to Romeo who was next to them, slapping his hand in a high-five.

"Good job mate. More blokes for this family!"

* * *

><p><strong>So there we go! Baby Smith's a 'he'! Can I just say a huge, HUGE thank you to everyone who voted in both the poll and also in their review! I really appreciated all the input and I hope the majority of you that voted are happy with the gender result! <strong>

**Through the poll, 6 people voted for a girl and 2 people voted for a boy. Then in the reviews, 4 people voted for a girl and 13 voted for a boy. The total was - Girl: 10 against Boy: 15! **

**However, I'd still love more help! Although I doubt I'm going to have Romeo & Indi choose a baby name before it's born, on the other hand I would love any name suggestions for the little man! At any point from now till it's born, you can slip in any name suggestions you have into your review and I'll be writing them down for future selection as of NOW!**

**Next chapter:**

**# Sasha comes home from school with a _big_ surprise.**

**# Casey & Indi's friendship continues to grow.**

**# An unaware Romeo accidentally starts getting on everyone's nerves.**


	18. Chapter 18

**While I have the chance, can I just say thank you so much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! I got more reviews in the last one than any other so thank you, thank you, thank you! And look how close I am to 100! It would *hint hint* mean the world to me if I could get there before my next update. Huge thank you's to everyone who suggested baby names also! I really appreciate it and I'm composing a few possible name's for him, but you can still suggest more if you wish!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 18 - <strong>

Another fortnight passed after the ultrasound and Indi was officially 5 months through her pregnancy. She was stoked to reach another milestone and was enjoying having more time to spare now, after dropping out of Uni indefinitely in the last week. Although she still had another few months of her pregnancy left, she'd just finished and passed her exams for the semester and figured that there was no point paying for and starting the second semester only to be able to continue for another 2 months or 3 at the most, before having to take a break halfway through when her pregnancy began to near the very end, through to after the baby was born.

To keep her sane and from feeling completely at a loose-end she decided to keep her shifts at the Diner for as long as possible before maternity leave, and she also was yet to do everything else that she needed to organize for the arrival of the baby in that time too. So far, she'd used the time for a bit of R&R, lazing around, sleeping in and watching daytime TV, but she knew it wouldn't last for long and that she wouldn't be able to keep it up for months at end, until her life would be made busy again with the baby.

Today had her been her busiest day yet, doing a shift at the Diner in the morning before going down and watching Romeo conduct a surfing lesson on the beach. After that was finished, both had other commitments, with Indi having to meet Sasha at her school after agreeing to take her home, while Romeo had to go from one job to the next and dry off for an afternoon shift at Angelo's.

As she waited in her car in the car park for her eleventh grade sister to arrive, Indi replied to a few texts that she'd received earlier while she was getting ready for and working at the Diner.

"Howdy" Sasha greeted chirpily as she opened the door and let herself into the passenger's seat of the car. "Having a good day? Better now that I'm here, I'm sure!"

Indi laughed to herself at her sister, not giving the show-pony satisfaction of making her laugh. "Yeah, it's been decent, you know. How's yours been?" she asked as she put her phone in the cup holder and turned the car on, only glancing at her sister for a fleeting second before she started driving, not noticing just _how_ much her younger sister resembled her.

"So where to madam?" Indi asked as she drove out of the school car park, realizing that she didn't really know her destination. "I was thinking about heading to Angelo's? I'm feeling a bit peckish and could do with something to eat. I'll get you something too if you want?"

Sasha nodded, despite the fact Indi still wasn't looking at her, concentrating on the road. "Free food? That option is sounding good."

Within the next few minutes, the girl's had arrived at the site of the Surf Club and Angelo's. Getting out of the car and locking it, Indi got the shock of her life when she walked over to Sasha so the two could walk in together, getting a full frontal view of her.

"Gosh, I feel like I'm looking in a mirror…" Indi gasped as she saw the large bump in her sister's stomach that mirrored her own, except being larger than Indi's authentic one.

Sasha laughed. "At least mine's genuinely fake! Not to mention gestation is a heck of a lot faster. The bump disappears tomorrow and baby appears next week. It's for Child Development at school."

"So I assumed" Indi nodded. "I never took that subject… Looking back now, maybe I should've!" she laughed as the girl's walked through the Surf Club and up the stairs to the tapas bar and restaurant where one girl's husband was working and the other girl's boyfriend was a possibility. "So what do you want to eat, Sash?"

"I could eat a horse. This baby's really taking all the energy out of me" Sasha faked, letting out a groan.

Indi laughed aloud. "Nice try! Only I can use that line to my advantage, thank you!"

"It was worth a shot. Besides, I'm starting to think ordering a pizza, to be delivered, would've been a better idea. This is kind of embarrassing."

The elder sister shook her head, getting ready to drag Sasha inside if she'd have to as Indi walked in instantly upon seeing Romeo on the phone at the counter, scrawling something done on paper as he spoke.

"So that was one gourmet pumpkin and pine-nut pasta and one supreme pizza?" is what the girls heard Romeo confirm as they walked closer to him. "That'll be ready in 20 minutes. Bye."

Hanging up and leaning over the counter to quickly kiss his wife, Romeo greeted Sasha and Indi before pointing to Sasha's fake bump with a laugh. "Heck Sash, what have you been getting up to?"

"Tell me and we'll both know" she shrugged, picking up a menu and focusing on that, while Indi on the other hand was focusing on Romeo.

"I missed you…" Indi smiled, speaking softly over the bar to him in a whisper.

Reaching over and squeezing her hand briefly. "You too. I've already enjoyed the whole minute you've been here, more than the rest of the time I've been here combined, which is saying something especially considering Heath was in an amusing mood when he was in earlier!"

Indi laughed, retracting her hand. "Wow, good times!"

"Yeah, now what can I get you lovely ladies to eat or drink?"

"Tim-Tam cheesecake and mango lassi" Sasha stated hungrily.

Romeo nodded, while Indi groaned. "I'm regretting offering to pay now. Trust you to go gourmet" He laughed at her and wrote it down on the note pad that was still in his hand. "Lucky that you're husband works here then. You get marital-mates-rates."

"What on earth does that mean?" she asked looking at Romeo with confusion before he explained. "Means I'll pay."

"Thanks R" Sasha smiled pulling her phone out of her school bag that she had brought up with her to the practically desolate restaurant.

He nodded again, before turning to Indi. "And what do you and the little man feel like, Indi?"

"I can't decide. Although, I'm tempted to order a sandwich just for the satisfaction of having _you_ making a sandwich for _me_ for once!"

"Hey! I cook for you!" Romeo protested firmly, crossing his arms in the process. "So is it a sandwich then?"

She nodded, glancing at the menu board from her seat. "Yeah. Make it a club with extra onion. Oh, and a mini apple pie. And my usual decaf coffee, thanks."

"Someone's hungry" he noted observantly as he wrote the order down on a piece of pad paper.

"And what's your point? Whose fault is that?!" Indi returned sharply with annoyance in her tone, giving Romeo more than enough of a warning to back off.

Sasha examined her black-coated nails in the middle of the developing tiff, not only being in the awkward situation, but also being the third wheel.

Romeo shrugged calmly. "I never said that there was a problem with it" he explained before walking away from the bench with the girls' orders and the phone order in his hand.

#

After Romeo had left again to help out in the kitchen, asking the girl's to let him know if the phone rang or if there was any customers who came to the counter to order, Indi and Sasha were left to have a chat of their own, which consisted of nothing overly interesting, generally just looping back to work and the others.

However, when Casey Braxton walked through the door in his all-black delivery boy outfit, Sasha left her sister sitting there to rush up and hug her newly titled boyfriend.

"Hey" he smiled, putting the red pizza delivery bag warmers on the bar in order to give Sasha a proper hug and quick kiss. "Do I want to know about this?" he laughed as he pulled away and patted the synthetic bump in front of him.

"Yeah, I'm having a Chinese baby."

He looked at her with a puzzled look of confusion before she clarified. "Get it? 'Made in China'... Bad joke, I know." Casey nodded, sceptically with an uncomfortable laugh before looking over to Indi. "Forgot to say, Romeo told me multiple times about your kid being a boy. It's cool news, congrats!"

"Thanks" she smiled, rubbing her baby bump in front of her affectionately before Casey and Sasha returned to focusing on each other. Finally, after another ten minutes, Romeo exited the kitchen firstly coming out with the girl's drinks before coming out a second time with Sasha's order and Indi's meal as well as dessert.

"Don't let Brax catch ya" Romeo warned Casey who was gazing into Sasha's eyes holding her cheek as the two spoke. "And there you go girls."

Sasha instantly moved away from her boyfriend for her food that was deemed more important, which Indi was already getting into. "Hey, Indi? Have you got the ultrasound photos of our son? Did you show Casey?"

She shook her head, mid-mouthful, waiting for her mouth to empty before she pulled it out of her purse in her handbag and handing it to him. Romeo looked over the photo again which he'd seen numerous times already, brushing his finger over the outline of his child with a smile in admiration before moving over to the youngest Braxton with it.

"Here's my son" Romeo informed, tapping Casey on the shoulder to get his attention to show him the photo while the girls continued eating.

"Cute" Casey replied with a glance, before Romeo started pointing out each part of the baby on the clear photo in detail, showing him the legs, the arms and suchlike.

"That's great mate, really cool, but I've gotta get going. This pizza's getting cold."

Romeo nodded, slapping Casey's back in acknowledgement for him to leave as he walked back over to the girls who were nearing the end of their meals. "Hey Indi? Can I keep the photo here with me at work for today? I wanna show the other guys like Liam, Brax and Heath and stuff the photo of him."

"Yeah that's fine" Indi replied once her mouth was empty enough for her to speak.

"Great, thanks" he beamed, looking at the glossy paper once more before putting it in his pocket for safekeeping.

#

Later that day, when it was nearing dusk after Sasha and Indi had finally returned home from town together despite having a few more detours on the way home. After getting back, Sasha instantly started to get ready for her date with Casey that the duo had organized during the girl's visit to Angelo's, despite not expecting him for a while yet, and Indi made a start on cooking dinner for herself and the other's that would be home for the night meal.

Within half an hour later, Sasha was just getting out of the shower and Indi had just finished preparing dinner, waiting for it to cook and was putting her feet up for a break when the door knocked. She let out a sigh, standing up uncomfortably to go and answer the door.

"Hi Case. I don't think that Sash was expecting you so soon" Indi greeted, looking behind her to the still closed door, meaning her sister was still in the process of getting ready.

"Yeah, sorry, I'm a bit earlier than I said. Should've remembered that girl's are never early!" he laughed as Indi motioned for him to come inside. "Don't worry about it. I don't think she'll be long anyway. As soon as she knows that you're here anyway!"

He nodded, before double-checking that she was okay with him waiting after Indi yelled out to Sasha that Casey was there. "Are you sure? I'm not interrupting or disrupting you or anything? You don't want me to drive around aimlessly for a while until she's ready?"

Indi laughed, shaking her head with amusement. "Seriously Case, don't sweat it!"

"Alright" he acknowledged, letting it be. "Sorry, I'm still new to the dating thing with Sasha and I don't what your family's like with it all."

"Well we don't bite; that's for starters, but I understand. Mind you, it took Romeo _years_ for his paranoia to wear off about dad."

Casey looked up at her with a questioning brow. "Because of the whole your dad being a doctor thing? I can't say that I haven't already thought that one through too..."

Indi smiled again at his honestly. "Gosh you guys are scaredy cats!" He shrugged in response.

"How comfortable would you feel in our shoes, knowing your girlfriend's father could kill you _and_ make it look like it was all an accident?!"

She shook her head with a smile. "He'll get used to you eventually. Promise, I thought that he'd write me out of the will or something after I married Romeo, but now they get on great. If dad can like _him_, then you've got no problems."

"Thanks, that helps me feel slightly more comfortable at least."

Indi smirked, clapping her hands together in front of her. "Good – but the real thing you have to be concerned about it is me and Dex. I'm sure he'll give you the third degree the next time he sees you. As for me, the questions start now. What are you intentions with my sister? Are you in it for the long-haul or will you just love her and leave her?"

"You're kidding me, aren't you?"

She shrugged simply, managing to keep her straight face. "Perhaps, but perhaps I'm not."

Casey let out a nervous laugh. "Don't tell me I have to go through that whole speech with _you_!"

"Chill Casey, I was just messing with you. I'm not that harsh and besides, I don't think she's done that badly with her picking this time around."

A smile cracked on his apprehensive lips. "Is that a bit of reassurance there? Now where's the blow that comes after that one?!"

"I'm being serious this time. You're a good guy Casey and I trust you with Sash. You've got the big sister's tick of approval for the moment."

"Thanks" he smiled, before looking down at the ground with a cringe. "But if we're being all buddy-ish, I should probably warn you that I think Romeo's getting close to receiving a slap in the head soon."

Indi frowned, worrying for her husband firstly, before wanting to know why. "How come? Why do you say that?"

"Well it's evident that he's like _beyond_ excited about your baby, but he's starting to drive all the other guys at work mental; even Heath who's up there in 'Planet Baby' with him!"

"Has he really been that bad?"

Casey nodded seriously before continuing to speak. "Yeah, he's been talking to everyone, even the customers, about it non-stop. And after you left, I think I saw the photo about 20 more times, and I was back and forth with deliveries! I tried saying something to him and hinting about it changing the subject for a while, but it just flew straight over his head."

"I'm really sorry" Indi cringed as she bit her lip, despite finding his excitement secretly adorable. "I had no idea that he was being that annoying at work. I'll try convincing him to lay off the baby talk for a while."

"Don't worry about it too much, I know he's excited and all, but he's just starting to get on everyone's nerves now."

She nodded with understanding before Indi chuckled to herself. "I'll talk to him when he gets home tonight, but I've probably been just as bad around everyone else, mind you!"

"Thanks. I just figured that I should warn you before someone snaps and hits him or something."

"Yeah, I appreciate it. I promise to talk to him on the condition that you promise to look after my sister, or else you _will_ have interrogation coming at you! Do we have a deal Mr Braxton?"

"Well that goes without saying!" he smiled, before holding his hand out to the blonde. "Deal."

The two shook hands with a mutual smile, and now with a basic deal connecting them as well.

#

Shortly later, Sasha called out to her older sister for advice on which earrings she should wear just asIndi had finished pouring Casey a drink for while he waited. Walking into Sasha's room at the end of the hall to help advise her, Indi let out a gasp as she saw her sister's appearance.

"Wow Sasha. You look amazing! Very classy" she announced with a reassuring smile as she looked over her sister's attire of a long deep purple evening shirt that had a typically Sasha lace trim, tight black skirt and black patterned stockings. However, unfortunately for Sasha, the fake baby bump was still attached to her waist beneath her shirt and had to remain that way unless she wanted to lose marks if the mechanical strap recorded her taking it off prematurely.

"Thanks. Now what about the earrings?" she asked dangling a different option in each hand in front of her sister's face. Option number one was clear glass drop earrings with a purple swirl through the middle and option number two was much larger silver gem and bead drop earrings.

"The chandelier looking ones." Pointing to the second option as she rubbed her stomach, Indi clearly stated her opinion with a nod. "By the way, you might want to hurry up. Casey's probably getting a bit bored with the waiting game by now."

Sasha slipped the earrings in quickly, sprayed herself once more with perfume and double checked she hadn't missed any makeup fails in the mirror, grabbing her bag as she scampered out with Indi trailing behind her.

"Hey" Casey smiled as he got off the lounge and took his new girlfriend's hand. "You look incredible."

"Thanks" she beamed as their heads started to close in together, before Indi purposely let out a cough to stop them. "Now remember, dad said he wanted you home by 11? Both of you got that?"

The young couple nodded in acknowledgment at the nineteen year old who was acting older than her age at the present moment.

"Bye Indi" Sasha smiled, giving her sister a quick hug after her boyfriend had tugged on her hand gently as a cue for them to leave.

Indi smiled as the two walked out, leaving her home alone for a rare occasion. She seized the moment, deciding to enjoy a hot, peaceful bath until either her father, husband or brother returned home later.

* * *

><p><strong>I know the Casey &amp; Sasha dating thing's a bit random, but considering Ruby's leaving, I'm certain they'll end up together eventually. Also I've put them together for other reasons with plans that I have for this story down the track. <strong>

**Really hope you like the chapter! I'm personally not too sure about how it turned out. **

**Also, I'd love more name suggestions for the baby because although I've got favourites and strong possibilities out of the one's you guys have given me already, I'd love hearing more too! **

**Next chapter:**

**# Indi finally discovers what Romeo and Sasha had been plotting together.**

**# It's one surprise after the other for Romeo and Indi...**


	19. Chapter 19

**Quick A/N - Thanks to all my reviewers as always! Every single one of them make my day and thanks to everyone who's suggested names so far! I'm still taking suggestions (probably will until he's born in the story!) but you guys have given me some great ones that are definitely on the short-list!**

** Also, to 'Guest': First of all, thanks! Second, I've started both of those stories but I'm hesitant to post them on here because I'll probably be biting off more than I can chew. Right now, Little Wonders is my priority, but I really hope that those other two stories will be up here at same point in time. I'm glad you like the sound of them anyway! That's a great thing to know!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 19 -<strong>

A few weeks later, a very special day arrived for Romeo and Indi. Romeo woke up first and covered his wife in gentle kisses before Indi woke up a few minutes after.

"Good morning" she smiled, knowing it was going to be a fantastic day already, just starting from the way that she had been woken up. "Happy anniversary."

He beamed, sitting up in bed, gently and carefully pulling Indi up along with him to rest against his bare chest. "Happy anniversary yourself" he replied happily as he pressed a kiss to the top of her hair lightly.

"Ooh, I have something to give you" Indi revealed to Romeo, with an excited grin as she shuffled off the bed from her position against Romeo, walking over to her wardrobe. Indi rummaged through the top draw of her wardrobe which was filled with her various sized bottles, brushes and containers of different makeup products until she reached the bottom and felt the piece of paper that she was searching for.

Watching his wife from their bed, Romeo wasn't sure what to expect, which he turned into a joke. "Yeah, thanks for the thought, Indi, but I'm not sure if I need your lip gloss. It looks good on you though."

"Funny" she commented, trying to pull of an annoyed look as he walked back over to their bed holding the stapled and halved sheets of paper.

He shrugged, pulling her back over to him as she sat down and handed him the papers she'd previously been holding. "What else am I supposed to think?"

"Just shut up and read it" Indi commanded with her expression showing that she evidently wasn't very happy with his joking remarks. Romeo obeyed, opening the paper which looked like a full-page printed receipt.

His eyes scanned over the page which he was still uncertain about. "What's this?" Romeo asked with confusion. Indi leaned over and pointed to a few key words, like 'hotel', the date and the location.

Indi's surprise for her husband had been a printed out piece of paper with the confirmation of the booking that she had arranged, for herself and Romeo to stay at Newcastle up the coast, where he had lived with several of his foster parents before he came to Summer Bay, initially only temporarily to see his fellow foster friend Jai Fernandez. Romeo constantly raved about the beaches up at the northern city, making no secret of the fact that it had his favourite beach in the world.

Romeo's face lit up and he threw his arms around her immediately in a grateful hug before his lips crashed onto hers passionately, resulting in a long, heated kiss between the two.

Eventually it was Indi who pulled away, left smiling and breathless from the kiss as she stroked the side of Romeo's head with her hand resting on his ear. "So are you happy with your surprise?"

"Well, I'm _very_ happy with the prospect of it. It's still yet to be delivered though. Guess it turns out that my wife _does_ listen to me after all!" he replied teasingly with a laugh.

"You ever doubted me?! By the way, I've packed some clothes and stuff for you already. I'm thinking we might be able to leave at 10?"

He grimaced uncertainly. "Mm, how about 11 instead?" Indi nodded, kissing his cheek before she got out of bed again. "Alright, done. I'm going to have a shower. Your bag's by my shoes. If there's anything else you want to take with us, put it in there now. "

Romeo nodded, smiling as his wife left the room before getting to work on some other surprises of his own...

#

Half an hour later, both were showered and ready for breakfast, exiting their bedroom together to enter the kitchen where Sid was tidying the house up, Sasha was cooking something in a frypan at the stove and Dex was laying on the lounge watching T.

"Morning" Indi said, smiling brightly as she walked into the kitchen, hand in hand with Romeo.

"Good morning sweetheart. Congratulations" Sid replied just as happily as he stopped what he was doing and hugged his eldest child. "I'm very proud of you both."

"Thank you dad."

Next up was Sasha who came rushing over to them from the stove where she'd been cooking; throwing them both into hugs once Sid was done. "Congrats guys!" she squealed excitedly.

"Thanks Sash" they replied gratefully, both admittedly enjoying the excitement and attention.

"So a whole year, hey?" Dex said, speaking next from over on the lounge. "I can't be bothered getting up, but I'm giving you an air-hug."

Indi chuckled, letting out a laugh. "I guess it's the thought that counts." The couple's attention was then directed back to Sasha who had finished cooking at the stove.

"Hope you guys are hungry!" the youngest Walker exclaimed, bringing plates and plates of food containing bacon, pancakes, eggs, toast, baked beans and fruit salad over to the dining table along with condiments, the coffee plunger and two different kinds of juice. "Eat up!"

"Wow. Thank you Sasha!" Indi smiled, having no idea of the trouble that her sister had gone to to create the continental banquet breakfast for the couple's anniversary.

"Thank _you_, Romeo, Indi and your commitment!" Dex exclaimed after having found enough of a purpose to get off the lounge and take advantage of his brother-in-law and sister's surprise breakfast.

The three laughed as Dex made his way over to the table, immediately helping himself to the food, leading to a heated argument between himself and Sasha, who wanted Romeo and Indi to eat first considering that she had made it especially for them. However, as it was, there was more than enough food there to feed everyone, with plenty left over for lunchtime as well.

#

After breakfast, Indi was urging Romeo to leave soon, completely unaware that he still had a few more surprises left up his sleeve.

"Come on! If we leave now, we'll get there before lunchtime!" Indi reasoned as she double-checked that she had packed everything that she would need for the holiday. She was getting more than fed up with his excuses of 'hold on', 'just a minute' and 'okay, we'll leave _soon'_.

Finally, after she'd threatened him with going alone or taking Sasha instead, Romeo handed her over a piece of paper, similarly to as she had done with him that same morning.

"What is this?" she asked opening the thin paper strip that had been folded into half length-wise.

Romeo smirked, gesturing to the paper slip. "Read the clue and you'll find out."

"_I consider it an impressive feat, that every time you're near my heart skips a beat"_ Indi read the rhyming slip aloud, looking like she was none the wiser.

"Does someone have heart arrhythmia, do we?" Indi laughed at the cryptic clue.

Romeo's cheeks flushed slightly pinker at her comment. "Shut up. The first one was really corny, I know. Anyway, there's your clue. Go find the treasure!"

Indi laughed. "Treasure? What? Is this a treasure hunt or something?"

"Precisely" he smiled proudly. "Now off you hop! While the first one's corny, it's also a nice and easy one too.

She laughed at her husband, kissing him briefly before setting off for her treasure, or next clue.

#

Like Romeo had forewarned, the first clue was a nice and easy one, only taking Indi a minute to find the chocolates he'd taped to Sid's stethoscope, along with the next clue which lead her to her Business Studies textbook.

Along the way, she collected a whole chocolate box worth of wrapped up chocolates and enough Hawaiian flowers to form a bouquet around the farm from the clues until she held in her hands a final, noticeably special clue that had been jazzed up in gold-coloured writing. This clue led her to her bedroom, into her wardrobe until she laid her hands on a clothing cover that held an item which she hadn't worn in a year to the day.

Carefully and slowly unzipping the cover, she exposed the shiny satin cream coloured material right to the bottom of the dress. Gently gliding her hand down the front of her wedding dress, she smiled as she took a few moments to remember how perfect and special the day that she had worn that very dress had been.

Finally, her hand dipped to the bottom of the cover where the length of the dress had already finished. She felt a hard box that had a soft smooth feeling when touched. Indi pulled it out and examined it in her hand with a smile.

Indi walked back over to Romeo who had been waiting, watching her from where he was sitting on the end of their bed.

"Open it" he encouraged gently with a warm smile.

Indi held the medium-sized jewellery box tightly with one hand while the other opened it, exposing a beautiful two-toned necklace with a silver chain and diamond encrusted heart with the centre being filled with a lighter gold layer. She gasped, lifting the necklace out in shock and awe. "Oh my gosh Romeo! This is so beautiful."

Holding the necklace and examining it closer, Indi discovered the writing that was engraved on the opposite side of the necklace in the middle of the gold layer.

_R.S. & I.W. _

_22.06.11 _

Indi's smile increased as she saw the unique engraving of their anniversary on the back of the necklace, before passing it back to Romeo. "Can you please put it on for me?"

"Of course" he smiled, unclasping the hook, taking Indi's hair with his other hand and connecting it together with the latch, behind her neck.

She instantly reached out to hold the pendant on her neck again, unable to wipe the smile off her face.

"It is so, so beautiful. I love it" she beamed with affirmation for him that she liked her gift.

Kissing her cheek, he smiled. "You've partly got your sister to thank for that. She helped me look around, pick it out and gave me the idea to get it engraved. That's what we were doing when your Uni friend saw us."

"Ohhhh" Indi replied cringing as realization struck her. "That makes sense... I'm sorry about that. I should've trusted you and not just jumped to conclusions.

"It's alright. I probably would've been a bit suspicious too. We were bound to get seen eventually though. Before she saw us at Reefton, I took Sasha to shops in Mangrove River, Yabbie Creek and Manly looking at jewellery shops for the perfect necklace for you."

"Well thank you to you both. It _is_ perfect" Indi confirmed, pulling him into a short-lived kiss that ended after he resisted her, pulling away.

"That's what I was aiming for! It's been such a tough and rocky first year for us" he explained, taking hold of her hands gently before continuing. "I mean it's been such a big year, but I feel like I'm so much closer to you now, and I think that I love you more than I ever thought that I possibly could. I'm so glad that we've made it out the other end, together, and I'm looking forward to so many more years with you and our family."

Indi was on emotional breaking-point willing herself to stop crying as she felt the small teardrops forming in her eyes, slowly trickling down her cheek from the combination of intense excitement in the day, her pregnancy hormones and to top it all off with Romeo's heartfelt speech and gift.

"Hey, don't cry!" Romeo said, gently wiping his thumbs under her wet eyes to absorb the tears that he just noticed were dripping down her cheek. "You're meant to be happy, not sad!"

"I'm sorry; I'm not sad, it's just all really emotional..." Indi replied, sniffling as she tried to stop herself from weeping.

He let out a soft laugh to himself as he wrapped his arms around Indi and pulled her close, kissing the top of her hair firmly having half-expected for the waterworks to make an appearance considering wife's current state.

"So how long before you want to leave?" Romeo asked still in the comforting embrace.

She laughed, looking up at him before she spoke. "In all honestly, I almost forgot about that!"

"Make me feel loved why don't you?! How could you forget _my_ present?" he asked with an amusing fake annoyance before cracking the smile that he'd been trying his hardest not to, leaning down and kissing his wife.

#

Later, after the two were sure of the fact that they were completely packed, not forgetting anything, Romeo carried their bags out to the car, making a second trip to take out to get his surfboard as Indi followed, carrying the lightweight things like her handbag, water for the trip and a few sandwiches that she'd need to eat both before and after she had her proper lunch.

Being set and ready to go, the couple said their goodbyes to Sid, Dex and Sasha in the kitchen who wished them an enjoyable and relaxing time on their well-deserved break. They started to leave and make their way out to the packed car before Sid stopped them on the veranda outside. "Hold on! I nearly forgot to give you this."

He handed Indi a card envelope with their names on it in the best handwriting that the doctor who was notorious for his stereotypically work-related handwriting could do. Indi tried to open the envelope as neatly as she could without ripping the paper, before eventually pulling out the '_Happy Anniversary' _card.

She smiled, hugging her dad briefly before she opened the card to read the contents when an unexpected smaller slip of paper nearly fell out in the process.

"What's this?" Indi asked, giving her father the chance to speak before she looked at the slip that was covered in writing… The printed name and logo of Sid's bank, his full name and account details, his daughter and son-in-laws name and a large number that the duo hadn't seen in their own account for a very long time, if ever.

Indi gasped, wordlessly showing Romeo the slip too before handing it back to him. "Dad, we can't take this! It's way, way too much!"

"It's a gift. You're not allowed to refuse it. Dex and Sash contributed to a bit of it too as their presents to you. Besides, traditionally for the first anniversary you're supposed to be given paper, so it's fitting" Sid smiled, with his reasoning already planned considering that he had expected the couple to try to give it back.

"Alright, but that's way too much money dad! At least lower it a bit, or something!" Indi pleaded, still gawking in shock, having not expected a gift like that, ever.

Sid shook his head. "No, it might look like a lot of money on paper, but in reality it doesn't go as far as you imagine. Especially considering that you two are starting a new family, and I'm sure that you've got plans to look into moving out again in the near future. This is just a little bit of a financial boost."

Neither Romeo, nor Indi knew what to say to that surprisingly before Indi wrapped her arms around her dad in another grateful hug.

"Thank you. So, so much."

Sid smiled, patting his daughter's back in the embrace. "It's my pleasure. I just hope that this will help." In response, Indi gave him a 'you're-kidding' look in disbelief as she pulled out of the hug.

"Of course!" she exclaimed with excitement. "This, this is like the entire amount that we lived off of for the last year put together!"

"Yeah, Sid" Romeo agreed with an equally pleased smile, giving his father in-law a handshake. "We really appreciate this. You have no idea how far this will get us."

The older Walker nodded in understanding, with a smile. "My pleasure. Now get out of here and enjoy yourselves!"

"You heard the man" Romeo stated, turning to Indi. "Let's go!"

#

Just over three hours later, after several bathroom stops for Indi as well as a break to get lunch, the couple finally arrived in New South Wales's 'second Sydney' – Newcastle that was several hours north of Summer Bay, by the afternoon.

After arriving at the hotel that evidently would've cost an arm and a leg (a fact Romeo which had to push himself to ignore and just focus on enjoying himself), their belongings and bags were brought to their room and Indi started to unpack anything they'd want easier access to.

Double checking the last bag for anything that she might've missed, Indi let out a loud sigh of relief before walking over to the lounge where Romeo was reclined, channel surfing to pass time as he was waited for Indi to finish unpacking which he had offered to help with.

Taking her time to slowly sit down, Indi leaned over and kissed her husband's cheek after she'd positioned herself comfortably on the lounge. "Hello."

"Hi" he smiled, quickly flicking the television off by the remote before wrapping his arm around her back, pulling her into him as she comfortably rested her head between his arm and chest, raising her own arm to her chest as she stroked and played with the special pendant that was hanging off the chain of her new necklace.

The couple enjoyed the closeness of their embrace, absorbing their new relaxing atmosphere together in silence.

"So… do you like your present, babe?" Indi asked softly, stroking his chest from where her head was pressed against him.

"Love it," he stated in response confidently, as soon as the words came out of her mouth. "You and me getting a place to ourselves for a few days is the best present. Especially here."

She smiled from the reassurance that she had made a good decision, as well as from the fact that she had made him happy.

"What would you like to do? I'm sure the beach is calling your name, right?"

Romeo let out a satisfied groan from the thought of it. "Yes. Water. Beach. Waves. That sounds fantastic."

She nodded in acknowledgment of his answer, trying to wriggle off the lounge as easily as possible. "Okay, up you get then. Get dressed and grab your stuff."

#

Later, they headed down to the beach. Giving Indi a quick kiss before Romeo succumbed to his urge to get out into the water as quickly as he could, leaving Indi to enjoy herself by tanning and watching him surf from the beach, only feeling a little bit jealous considering she hadn't surfed in months as an additional cautious safety effort for the sake of the baby.

He spent half an hour catching all the waves that he could, riding them for as long as he could before he made the decision to come back in.

Running out of the water, holding his surfboard under his arm, Romeo had a glowing beam as he ran up the beach to where Indi was resting, sticking his board in the sand next to her.

"Well done champ" she complimented as she sat up on her towel, while he shook his head to get rid of as much water from his hair as possible.

"Thanks" he replied with a smile, leaning down to her head which he pressed a kiss on top of, before bending down further and scooping her up in his arms all within a flash.

She let out a squeal, initially from the sensation of her warm solar-heated skin being cooled by his dripping wet arms and front that she was wrapped in, before quickly clasping her arms around his neck as he pulled her off the ground.

"What _are_ you doing?!" she laughed as Romeo carried her along the sand, heading out to the ocean bridal style.

"Taking you out for a swim" Romeo stated as his feet reached the water, which he ploughed through, until he was up to his waist while Indi was squirming in his grasp, attempting to pull herself by his neck as far up from the water that was crashing up to their body in waves. "It's COLD! I don't like cold!"

He laughed as she let out a few more shrieks from the waves that she found herself slowly adapting to, not finding the cold quite as shocking when it collided with her skin. "Will this make it better?" he questioned, still finding himself amused as he lowered his head only very slightly to enable his lips to meet hers.

The two stayed in their passionate lip-locked embrace for several minutes, right in the middle of the water with Romeo holding Indi in his arms.

He was the first to pull away, albeit beaming as he did so.

"Love you" she smiled as she slid one of her arms upwards from where it was gripping onto his lower neck, snaking up to his hair which she rubbed affectionately, while her other arm lowered so that her hand was pressed just above where he was holding her against his bare chest.

"Love you too, Indi" he said, smiling from her words and her actions before replying. "Along with the little dude too, of course!"

She nodded, glancing at her stomach momentarily, which increased her smile. "I know. Me too."

He smiled at her, before leaning closer towards her head as round two of their kissing began.

#

For the rest of their anniversary getaway at Newcastle, Romeo went surfing as many times as he could squeeze in, with Indi coming in for a swim either of her own accord of was dragged in like today. They also went shopping together a few times to satisfy Indi's desire for retail therapy and thet spent a lot of time together making the most of the solitude and privacy that their temporary room provided, before the couple returned home several days later.

* * *

><p><strong>Now, before any of you point it out, I know that the anniversary thing is not accurate! They were married in like June on the show last year and I was planning to have this chapter by then, but I wanted to include more before then and it's been pushed to now. <strong>

**Don't forget to review (we can make it to 100, can't we?!) and keep those bubs names comin'! **

**Next chapter:**

**# A loved-up Romeo and Indi return home for a Walker family night.**

**# Dex starts suggesting baby names.**

**# Indi goes over the top with buying baby stuff online.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20: **

The same evening that Indi and Romeo had returned home from Newcastle, a Walker Family Night that Sid had arranged with his children was planned to go ahead, along with the extended family, Romeo and Casey, joining in too.

Sid had gone to the trouble of hiring out a few new release movies for them to choose between and pulled out the general games they owned like Trivial Pursuit, Pictionary, Monopoly and a pack of cards.

Indi and Romeo were sitting on the lounge together while Indi was reading a book on pregnancy that had been recommended to her by Bianca, and Romeo was next to her texting clients to confirm and remind them of the lessons they had booked for the following week. Across from them, Dex was reading a gaming magazine intently, while Sasha was down the hall, jazzing herself up considering that her boyfriend was joining them tonight too.

"LESS PERFUME, SASH! I'M DROWNING IN THE SMELL… FROM ALL THE WAY OUT HERE" Dex yelled, pausing from reading his magazine to yell at his younger sister that was several rooms away.

An annoyed Sasha yelled back and Indi laughed softly to herself from listening to the two, an action which Romeo noticed. "What are you laughing at over there?"

"I'm just thinking about the difference between us when we were in Sasha and Casey's shoes only newly dating, compared to now that we're an old married couple. You know, all the effort that went in to our dates, finding new interesting places and things to do together and now it's like dates are a rare thing and they're basically always at Angelo's. Not to mention, I would've rather died than have you catch me dead looking how I do now, in track pants and an old shirt – not to mention absolutely no effort with my hair and makeup" Indi explained with amusement.

Romeo let out a small laugh. "That's so true. It's funny how comfortable you can become with someone" he replied, leaning over to kiss his wife's cheek and massage her presently large stomach before settling back in the same spot on the lounge where he was before.

Across from them, Dex rolled his eyes as he watched the couple over his magazine, completely distracted from it now due to his two sisters distractions.

"So do you guys know what you're going to call my nephew yet?"

Indi shook her head. "No not yet. We haven't even really started to look at names."

"Are you serious?! I'm the naming _king_ over here! Allow Sir Dexter to assist you!" Dex exclaimed, setting his magazine on the coffee table before getting up and searching through some of the books and papers that were laid in various spots around the room. "Where's the names book?"

"There's a pile of books near the door in our room" Indi informed him, leaning over slightly to point in the approximate direction of her bedroom.

A few minutes later, Dex returned to the room holding a book in each hand and reading the back of each. "Found it."

"Want a prize?" Romeo sarcastically replied.

Dex shrugged in acknowledgment as he sat down on the arm of the lounge, next to where his eldest sister was seated. "Sure, now that you've mentioned that it's on offer, that sounds good." Romeo rolled his eyes at the response to his sarcastic comment.

"Anyway, back onto the names" he announced, skim-reading through the book. "What are you guys into? Something popular? Something classical? Something biblical? Something abstract? Something international?"

Indi watched her brother, pretending to look like she was listening to him intently before she cut him off. "Hmm, how about something we want to choose ourselves?"

"Nah that's plain boring. Your kid will thank me later for intervening with the naming process."

The older Walker child rolled her eyes, knowing that her brothers passion for coming up with interesting and unusual names for everything would mean that he wouldn't be giving up any time soon.

"Dex. There is no naming process _yet_. We aren't going to pick his name before he's born. Sure you can throw a few ideas around for us, but your wasting your breath" Indi attempted to reason, but with no success.

"Nonsense Indigo! No breath of Dexter Walker's is ever _wasted_" Dex announced regally, to add to the self-proclaiming as Romeo stifled laughter. "Okay, name number one… Dixon?"

"Sounds like a Prime Minister" Indi replied half-heartedly as she continued reading her book that she had been.

The couple that were looking away from the jet-black haired teenager didn't see his puzzlement through his eyebrows rising. "Isn't that what you want? An aspirational child who can live up to the standards of his Governmental name?"

No reply. "Okay then, how about Dax?"

This time it was Romeo who looked up from his phone. "Dax, Dex? Seriously? I thought you could of come up with something slightly more inventive…"

"Okay, reasonable claim. I know I have standards to maintain… How about Dalax?"

Indi shook her head, taking her turn to respond this time simply. "No. It's like a crossover between Dex and Alex."

He let out a loud exhale, before moving onto his final name suggestion. "Fine… Last but not least. Dux?"

"No! It's still one letter off Dex and it sounds like 'ducks'!" Romeo replied somewhat sharper than he had before, beginning to rapidly lose patience.

Indi sighed, massaging her own temple as she tried to focus deeper on her book that she was reading, before attempting to plead at the same time. "Dex. Please. I'm begging you; go and tease Sasha again or something."

"Okay. We'll talk about something else then… Round two! Middle names for unnamed nephew!"

The two sighed loudly, preparing themselves to gather up all the strength that they had to _not_ wish to find an implement to put in Dex's mouth and shut him up.

#

Later that evening, the two boys arrived. Sid had gone out to collect the pizza he had ordered for the six, giving Casey Braxton a lift to the farm at the same time, saving him from having to catch the bus up after work.

Since the minute that they had arrived, Sasha hadn't said a word to any of her other family members, being focused on showering absolutely all of her attention over her new boyfriend – a habit that she tended to have, similarly to how she had while dating both Stu and Xavier.

After the other's ongoing disgust, Sid finally managed to get the couple to focus on something else as all six of them started to play a game of Pictionary with the obvious teams, Romeo and Indi, Casey and Sasha and then Sid and Dex teaming up for the groups.

However, during the games, it was Romeo & Indi's turn to shine with the public displays of affection. The couple that were snuggling up on the lounge for the game became frequently distracted with kissing, cuddling and whispering to each other.

"Next time, can you remind me not to let my sister's fall in love, dad?" Dex sighed aloud as he murmured to his father next to him.

"Gladly, Dex. Gladly."

Sasha heard the two's grumbling and turned around from where she was facing Casey, leaning over and giving her brother a kiss on the cheek. "Aw, jealous? You know Indi and I still love you old boys too!"

Dex's groans and grumbles were then heard too before they continued on with playing Pictionary…

#

The intelligent combination of Sid and Dex was proving extremely powerful against Romeo and Indi who could never guess each other's drawings and against Casey and Sasha who would just end up getting frustrated and yelling at each other.

The father and son duo won the first game of Pictionary with the final score resulting in a close draw between the other two couples. Another game followed the first with the teams remaining the same. However, this second game moved a lot slower to the point that all six of them, especially Romeo and Indi, found themselves becoming frequently and easily distracted.

In-between Casey and Sasha's turn, during which Sasha was currently yelling, Romeo started to doodle on their note pad, writing little '_I love-heart you'_ notes and drew smiley faces and love hearts over their page getting Indi's attention as he drew each.

"Come on you two. It's your turn! Finish the game!" Dex said to inform the oblivious couple, shoving Romeo's shoulder to catch his attention from where he was sitting on the next lounge over from them.

They played their round, which was only followed by even more flirting between the two, while Casey and Sasha were tuning out too, talking to each other deep in a conversation.

The couples left the single Walker men annoyed, with Dex continuing his gruff groaning and grumbling, until Sid asked the valid question. "Is anyone actually playing the game?"

#

After they finished that game, they took a break, realizing that everyone was getting too distracted. Sasha pulled out the munchies that she and Dex had bought earlier together. This lasted a while until the group made the decision to play one last game before watching one of the movies that Sid had hired earlier today.

For the last game, Dex proposed that they should mix things up a bit and swap partners for the sake of speeding the game up, an idea that nearly everyone agreed to. Dex then got partnered up with Romeo, while his former partner Sid was with his youngest daughter Sasha, leaving Casey and Indi as the final team.

If the first two games had been considered loud, then the volume of the room at this level was deafening. Typically loud Sasha kept up with her reputation with her voice undoubtedly being the loudest, Dex and Romeo's voice slowly became louder and louder to be able to hear each other over Sasha, while getting frustrated that they couldn't perceive the drawings that they had to guess and finally, neither Casey nor Indi were especially quiet as they competed in the game.

Eventually, the title of being the winners of the final game was claimed by Indi and Casey. This left Sasha grumbling to Sid, all the while vowing that she was going to teach him how to draw...

#

The next morning, Indi was the first in the household to wake up, deciding to use the peace and quiet of the early morning to start searching for baby furniture and items that she hadn't even made a dent in so far.

Considering that the nearest baby shop was half an hour away from the farm at Yabbie Creek, Indi opted for the easier option of being able to look, compare and decide at her own leisure by looking and buying online.

It didn't take long for Indi to get a feel for the field of shopping that she had never had to explore before, and by the time that Romeo had woken up and joined her at the kitchen table, she had already developed a slight theme to her purchases and what she was looking for.

"Morning" she smiled as her husband leant down to give her a quick kiss.

"Good morning. Hold on, while you're here, can you give me your opinion?"

He nodded and she focused to her laptop on the table, tapping a few buttons to pull a tab that she had been saving for Romeo's thoughts. "Here we are. What do you think about a blue & light brown theme with the baby stuff? Like this one? Or do you think we should go for more of a blue & white colour scheme?"

"I don't really know" Romeo replied, biting his lip and leaning down to look at the images on the screen closer. "I didn't really give colours much thought. Besides, he's going to have to be in our room while we're still living here so it would be a bit hard to get a theme amongst our stuff too."

"I know, I know, but I was kind of getting a little bit ahead of myself and thinking of some of the possibilities of what we could do with dad's money and our savings..."

Romeo pulled out a seat next to her and sat down. "I don't know Indi. Don't get me wrong, that sounds really good and I'd love to move out soon and get a place of our own and all, but with the new baby I think it'll be a lot better if we just stay here for the sake of money and the extra support."

"Fine... I guess that just means that I have a bit more money to spend on the baby in that case."

"Not too much" Romeo warned, getting up and kissing the top of her head as he walked over to fridge and pulled out an 'Up and Go' to drink.

"Alright, alright! Chill, okay?"

He nodded before exiting the room to head into the Bay for a surfing lesson, making the mistake of leaving Indi alone with her laptop and countless online shops to browse...

#

That night, Indi had gone to bed late with Romeo, but lay awake, tossing and turning next to her husband who was nearly asleep. After half an hour, she grabbed her phone from her bedside table and logged into her eBay account checking her positions with items that she had bid on and already bought between the time that she last checked her account.

It wasn't for another 20 minutes or so before Romeo moved and turned over slightly to be faced with a bright illumination that blared in his face. "What are you doing?"

"I'm just checking out a few things that I was trying to buy" she replied, distractedly until he threw an arm up to her pillow, gliding it under her head and pulling her body into his. "Put it away" he replied, kissing her cheek softly.

She shook her head, giving him a quick kiss before shifting away from his embrace and attempting to sit up in bed. "I was about to get up anyway, I'm hungry."

"Hungry?" he laughed, looking at the clock before adding to his comment. "It's nearly 11:30 at night!" Indi shrugged, grabbing her laptop that was charging and walking out of the room.

Romeo got out of bed, rubbing his eyes as he followed his wife into the kitchen. Indi put her silver laptop down, before grabbing a bowl, spoon and headed to the freezer.

"Whatya making?" Romeo asked, leaning against the counter with a yawn, watching her. Pulling out the ice-cream tub from the freezer and serving herself two scoops into a bowl, she replied with a simple "Nothing. Just eating ice-cream."

"Yum, that sounds good. I'll have some too" Romeo said as he pulled a second bowl out from the overhead cabinet, before he took the scoop spoon from her hand and pulled a few spoonfuls from the tub into his own bowl.

The couple walked over to the table with their bowls, which Romeo had already started to eat before Indi moved back over to the kitchen cupboards to pull out a few condiments. The fresh punnet of strawberries joined them at the table, along with the green tin of Milo and finally the bottle of tomato sauce.

"Let me guess. Cravings?" Romeo asked with a scrunched up face from the combination of packages.

Indi nodded, sprinkling some Milo over her plain ice-cream before squeezing the tomato sauce along the top with it.

"Tomato sauce? _That_. Is disgusting" Romeo cringed, before taking the Milo tin and distributing some over his own ice-cream.

She shrugged, dipping a strawberry into the cream/brown/red mixture and pulled it out, towards her mouth before she turned her laptop on.

"While you're here, can I show you a couple of the pieces of furniture that I've picked out?"

"Sure" Romeo agreed eating his own ice-cream as her internet pages started up.

Gesturing to the page with her pointer finger, Indi added a couple of points as her husband looked at the item. "I thought that this one was especially good because not only is it cute, but it's also got the change table inbuilt at the end."

"Okay, is there any mention of safety or durability or anything cause for _that_ price, you'd sure hope that you're getting the best!"

"Well baby stuff is expensive you know..."

Romeo nodded. "Yeah, I know that, but still. It doesn't really matter how fancy it is or anything, just as long as it's safe for the baby. Surely there's something cheaper than that."

"Why stop there? We might as well just let him slum it then!" Indi replied with the annoyed sarcasm in her comment being impossible to miss.

"Indi..." Romeo replied, exhaling as he did so. "Sure some of the stuff can look good and be showy, but we're not millionaires! You're going to use up all the money that your dad's given to us just as soon as we've received it! How much stuff have you bought already?"

Indi looked away from Romeo's stare and took an awkward mouthful of ice-cream before answering him. "Um... A few things?"

"And how much have you spent?"

"A couple hundred" she confessed in a whisper, looking down at the ground.

Romeo let out a deep breath, noticing the vicious cycle that they were in the early stages of repeating. "Indi... I know the stuff for the baby is essential and it's not like the money's being wasted, but we don't have enough financial flexibility to buy things that are unnecessarily expensive, understand?"

"Yeah" she murmured, putting her strawberry that she was about to eat down and shutting her laptop.

Romeo noticed her slight humiliation and raised her chin in his direction. "I'm sorry, but it's better that you realize that now, before we get in debt again. Do you want me to write out a rough budget or limit for you, so that way you know where you stand and how much you can spend?"

"Alright" Indi agreed with a slow nod.

Romeo smiled, kissing his wife briefly before pulling out of the kiss with a smile. "Good girl. I'm so proud of you".

She returned the grin, before going back to finish her ice-cream concoction that she craved.

There in the dark, with only the light from the hallway illuminating the room, the couple sat together in silence, eating their late night snacks, before both finished and cleaned up the dishes, appearing as though the last 15 minutes had never happened...

* * *

><p><strong>Once again, I'm really not satisfied with this chapter and it was such a pain to write that I just wanted to finish it and get it up! <strong>

**Anyway, I know that Casey's full on introduction into the story is a bit random, but like I said last time, I really do believe that him and Sasha are going to be a couple at some point in time. Also, Casey's going to basically become a main character soon, and he'll have a lot to do with Romeo and Indi independently in the future even without Sasha, so this is the best way that I can gradually pull him in before that happens. **

**Next chapter:**

**# With the help of Roo, Sasha throws a surprise baby shower for Indi.**

**# A couple of old characters return for the shower.**

**# Romeo receives an alarming text message.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21 – **

A few weeks later, Indi was well into her eighth month of pregnancy and felt that if either her stomach or feet grew anymore than what they had so far, then one or the other was bound to explode.

She had worked a short shift at the Diner that morning and as she returned home and pulled up into the driveway, noticed all the cars that were parked outside the Farmhouse - actually equating to more than she had ever seen there before.

Getting out and walking towards the house, she got a slight inkling from the additional clue of blue balloons that were taped around the balcony posts. Approaching the door to let herself into the unlocked house, Indi could hear the noise from outside of lots of people talking, overtop the music that was playing softly in the background.

Opening the door, the first thing she saw was a huge blue and silver '_Congratulations' _banner spread across the two walls of the hallway hanging overhead. Then on the ground, more blue and white balloons were spread out all over the floor.

From the kitchen, after hearing the opening of the door that she had been listening out for since the guests had started to arrive, Sasha raced out to greet her older sister before the others reached her first.

"Surprise!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air before walking closer to her sister. "I was going to get everyone to hide and jump out to surprise you, but I figured that that can't be very healthy for your nerves and the baby, so I thought that I'd let you warm up to the surprise slowly."

Indi laughed lightly, putting her bag down in the corner before wrapping Sasha in a hug. "Thanks Sash. Is this all your work? I had no idea you were planning something, well before I got to the house that is!"

"Sort of. I got Roo to help me out with organizing it and I got numbers of a couple of your other non-Bay friends and family from Romeo, but yeah the rest is my doing."

"Thank you. You really didn't have to!" Indi smiled, pulling out of the hug as she noticed others from the lounge room were starting to make a noise as they filtered into the hallway that really wasn't large enough to hold that many bodies so close to the door comfortably.

Marilyn was the next to wrap Indi in a long tight hug before the others moved back into the much larger room to give them some room.

After close to a million squeals of excitement and congratulations from Marilyn, Indi greeted everyone else who was there for her baby shower. Sasha had invited all the girls from town; Roo, Marilyn, Leah, Natalie, Bianca (who had additionally brought Darcy along with her), Irene, April and Gina, along with Indi's best friend Nicole who still lived in the city, some girls she went to Uni with and after some debate, Indi's mother Jodi.

Starting with the light drinks and party food, the group just mingled together, chatting and introducing themselves when it was needed. Nicole pulled Indi aside so that the two could talk to each other individually for a few moments.

"It's been too long since we caught up! How have you guys been? How are you feeling?" Nicole asked with a smile.

"Hmm, to sum it up – tired and fat. Romeo and the other's are going great though!"

Nicole let out a light laugh. "I know how you mean all too well. At least you don't have that long left, unless your baby's like George and decides that he's too happy in there and wants to try and set up permanent residence!"

"Hopefully not... And what about you guys? How are Angelo and George?" Indi asked as the two sat down at a nearby seat as the conversation deepened.

"Yeah, the boys are fine. I think Angelo was just planning on taking George to the park or something while I'm out."

Indi smiled, increasingly so after feeling a few kicks internally from her own child. "Aw cute. How old is George now?"

"Eighteen months! He's so ridiculously big now, not to mention he's a little chatterbox."

Indi laughed at her friend, before letting out a teasing remark. "Hmm, and I wonder where he gets that from…"

"Hey!" Nic laughed light-heartedly. "You're probably right though. Hey, and how come you didn't tell me about your sister? Romeo called me to invite me and he said Sasha was organizing it. I just assumed she was a friend or something, not your sister!"

"Mm, tell me about it. It took a while to adjust at first, but now she fits right into the family like she's always been a part of it. She's a good person. It's a bit strange though, because I recognize a lot of myself in her" Indi explained, looking over to the tall brunette that she was talking about who was standing nearby talking to Natalie.

"I can imagine what a shock that would've been for you" Nicole added, watching Sasha too, who before today, she wouldn't have known from a bar of soap.

Indi nodded, before turning back to her friend. "Yeah, but I can't imagine life without Sash in it now."

"Well that's good. At least it's not like some awkward or evil half-sibling that you have to live with."

"Oh I don't know about that! Sasha certainly has her moments..." Indi laughed as Nicole joined in. This lead to silence for a few minutes while they watched the dynamics and interactions in the room of everyone else talking, before Indi turned back to Nicole with another question. "So, have you got any advice that you can think of for me?"

Nicole gave it a moment of serious thought before, replying with a laugh. "Hmm, don't give birth on the beach? Especially an isolated one at that, with only your dad being able to give Angelo instructions over the phone! It's definitely not a situation that I can recommend!"

Indi laughed in reply, before realizing the awkward part of what she had said. "Ha, yeah well dad and Angelo will _certainly_ not have to be in that position for my birth! Mind you, I'm sure that Romeo would be stoked with the idea of me having the baby on the beach! He would want to just swim out and catch a wave or two in-between my contractions!"

"Oh you poor thing" Nicole laughed, despite knowing that her friend's comment was a slight exaggeration about one of her other ultra-caring best friends who also happened to be Indi's husband.

#

The day continued on and shortly after the finger food lunch at midday along with a few games that Roo had organized with Sasha, Indi started unwrapping the presents that she had received from the guests.

Marilyn had given her a huge hamper with what seemed like every baby product on the face of the earth, along with a few toys for the baby. Natalie had found similar, but organic products and lotions for the baby. On behalf of herself and VJ, Leah gave Indi a few baby toys that her own thirteen year old son had apparently had a ball in trying out and selecting when they were shopping for them. From her own personal experience, Nicole's present was more for Indi's advantage with a pamper package of body creams, lotions and chocolates for herself, along with a set of earplugs for when she needs it so that Romeo can get up to their child during the night. Bianca, April and Irene pitched in together to buy a self-rocking bassinette that Bianca swore by considering that it worked wonders with getting Rocco to sleep. Gina and Roo, both gave gifts of newborn baby clothes with a toy or two, which was similar to Sasha's gift of an assortment of baby clothes that would last him until he was around a year old. However, the excited aunty-to-be's clothing choices had a noticeable theme of '_World's Best Nephew'_ or '_My Aunty is the Best Aunty'_ -like comments featured on most. Finally, Indi reached the last present which was a blank baby book from her mum – the only present which produced tears instead of smiles.

The hormonal pregnant woman began to tear up as she clutched the blank baby book, getting up and giving her mother a hug before returning to sit down and explain herself to her worried guests.

"I'm sorry. I just remember reading mum's baby books about me and Dex a few years ago and it just dawned on me when I opened it that now _I'm_ going to be the one writing it for my own child. Stupid I know, but-" Indi said starting to explain as the blonde a few seats cut her off.

"Hormones. I know" Bianca added, nodding in sympathetic understanding. Next to her, Darcy looked the most concerned out of the group, having no understanding of the emotional concept in pregnancy considering her innocent age.

Leaning over to her father's girlfriend, Darcy attempted a whisper that was loud enough for the entire room to hear before they burst out laughing from her cute comment. "Why is she crying? I think she needs cake!"

#

Several hours later, once the party proceedings had wrapped up and the guests had started to slowly filter out of the house and return to their own homes, Sasha, Indi, Marilyn and Roo started to clear up the house and return it to the residential home that it was, rather than a party venue.

Feeling beyond exhausted by her day that had started with her usual currently limited energy and that had endured a shift and a party, Indi apologetically asked whether she could excuse herself, leaving them to it so that she could have a nap.

"Of course you can, Indi! You need all the rest you can get" Roo said with an understanding smile as she cleared the plates.

"Yes you shouldn't be working yourself too hard, especially now!" Marilyn added excitedly, directing her to her room, with Sasha following behind her as she carried some of the presents Indi had received, to transport them from the lounge room to Indi and Romeo's room, and makeshift nursery.

Piling them up neatly, Indi called her sister over to her as she sat up from her where she had been lying on her bed.

Sasha walked over to her sister and sat down alongside her on the mattress as she was embraced by Indi in a grateful hug almost automatically. "Thank you for today, Sash. You really didn't have to, but I appreciate that you did. I had a great day."

"It's all good!" Sasha replied definitively with a smile. "It's my job as your sister and as the little man's aunty to spoil you both rotten and make the most of things like this!"

Indi laughed. "Well that you did! We have both been so spoiled by you and the others."

"You deserve it" Sasha smiled, giving Indi another brief hug before standing up and starting to walk out of the room. "Now sleep!"

#

Later that day, Romeo who was at the Surf Club in the middle of playing a game of pool after being banished from the house because of the girl's only baby shower, received an alarming text message from his sister-in-law containing words that he hadn't been expecting yet.

_**Sasha Bezmel:** _

_ROMEO! Get. Here. Now. Indi's in labour._

* * *

><p><strong>Cliffhanger and a short chapter - sorry, but it was hard to extend this chapter much more with little motivation. <strong>

**Anyway, since this story has gone from getting like 8-10 reviews per chapter to 2-3 over the last few, I'm considering ending the story once the baby is born. I had a lot, lot more planned on Romeo and Indi together with their son as a family, but I won't continue it if the interest isn't there or if that's not what you guys want, so please let me know. Thank you to 'Guest' and 'Kaiya' for reviewing though! :) **

**Next chapter: **

**# Romeo rushes home. **


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22 –**

The second that Romeo had processed the shocking message and what that meant, he left the game of pool and ran out of the Surf Club as he raced home to the Farm, assuming that Indi and Sasha would be stranded there waiting for him.

However, Romeo quickly discovered after he arrived at the desolate home that the girls weren't where he had expected them to be. In actual fact, the sisters had already been collected by the ambulance that Sasha had called for earlier that day after a pale Indi had come out of her room where she had been resting since the Baby Shower ended, announcing to Sasha with horror that her waters had broken. This quickly brought Indi to the realization that her back pains that she had felt since that morning, the pains that Dex had brushed off as probably just meaning that the baby was pressed against her back, was actually the onset of early contractions.

Pulling his mobile phone out of his pocket, revealing another 15 missed calls from Sasha since the Surf Club, Romeo tried to call his wife's phone, which looped straight through to message bank. This time, he attempted but with Sasha's number, with the second's in-between the dial tone and pickup killing his nerves as his chest beat fast, analysing the message which drummed the fear into him of how early he had received _that_ message, in comparison to Indi's due date.

Before receiving the phone call from a frantic Romeo, Sasha had been sitting next to her sister who was on the verge of crying. Trying to rub her back and reassure her comfortingly that Romeo was sure to be sure to be on his way, Indi forced Sasha to try calling him 15 times, which was starting to feel like 50 to her. Indi's contractions by the time that the girls had reached the hospital were only moderate and still minutes apart, leaving Indi with time to panic over where her husband was and how it was too early for this day to come, before the next pang of pain from each contraction took over for the moments that it lasted for.

After Romeo tried to call Sasha again, she picked up this time from the hospital, instantly getting a look of hope from Indi next to her. "Hello? Romeo? Where are you?!"

"I'm at the farm. Where are **you**?!" Romeo said, speaking faster than he ever could remember himself doing so before.

Sasha got prods from a desperate Indi as she spoke, leading to Sasha's shorter fuse from both members of the anxious couple. "We're at the hospital, idiot! Didn't you get my message and calls?!"

"Just Yabbie Creek hospital, right?" Romeo confirmed as he ran outside to leave again, quickly locking the door behind him. "How is she? Is she okay? Is the baby okay to be coming this early?"

"She's doing okay, but just GET HERE! I think Indi's going to have some sort of breakdown if you don't get here soon enough" Sasha warned as Indi yelled a threat to her husband through the phone too.

Romeo reassured the girls that he was on his way and left immediately, racing to the hospital as soon as he ended the call.

#

A very speedy and short 30 minutes after he scrapped 15 minutes off the usually 45 minute long trip, Romeo reached the hospital, instantly rushing inside to the maternity ward until a nurse caught his attention, stopping him to ask if he needed help.

From Indi's hospital room, Sasha caught sight of her brother-in-law, giving Indi a brief hug and wishing her the best of luck before she walked out of the room to swap places with Romeo who still had no idea where Indi was from the uninformative nurse. "Get in there. Good luck _dad._" Sasha said to Romeo, before giving her brother-in-law a quick hug too and pointing to the room that she had spent her last two hours in with her distressed sister.

Romeo hurried into the room, immediately swooping Indi into a hug, he pulled away and brushed the hair away that was nearing her damp eyes, before taking her hands reassuringly into his.

"How are you feeling? What have I missed? What has your doctor said?"

"I'm okay... My contractions are still reasonably far apart and they hurt, but they're bearable right now. You haven't missed much-" Indi started to explain, filling him in before a sharp contraction hit, taking her breath away and increasing their grip on each other's hands before it passed over. "But, but they just hooked me up to some machines to check everything was okay and did an ultrasound on the baby when we got here."

Romeo nodded, still trying to wrap his head around the unexpected events of the day so far, as well as of what was still to come. "And he's okay? No problems or anything?"

Indi nodded. "They said he's not distressed and they can't see any problems, but he's just coming. The doctor was weighing up the decision to give me something to try and delay the labour, but they thought that I was close enough to the due date. I know they said there's nothing blatantly obvious that's wrong, but I'm so scared. Premmies have all sorts of problems" Indi confessed with choked up tears, after having managed to keep herself together for her younger sister's sake when she was with her, but with the gradual pain increase, her worries accentuated.

"I know, I know" Romeo whispered, knowing that he would have to be able to strong for Indi, despite his own fears of similar nature about the unknown. "We know that he's going to be premature, but there's nothing that we can do about that, okay? You've just got to focus on doing the best you can do to bring him into the world now, and then we will do everything in our power to keep him as healthy and strong as possible."

Indi nodded as Romeo squeezed her hands with reassurance just in time as another increasingly painful and longer contraction hit the scared mother-to-be. After passing, the couple settled in, preparing themselves for the long haul of the hours to come before they would reap the blessings of the experience...

#

Through the following hours, Indi's labour intensified and progressed gradually through the three stages with Indi evolving from feisty, to upset and finally to angry.

For the remainder of the first stage of labour, Indi became feisty and bitter towards Romeo and the doctors, with sarcastic and annoyed comments throughout the earliest and most outdrawn contractions that had the least amount of pain coming along with them.

The second stage consisted mostly of tears and crying from not only the pain, discomfort, nausea and sick state that she was, but from additionally not finding the reassurance or comfort that she needed from knowing that she still had a long, long way to go before it was over yet.

The third and final stage of Indi's labour was filled with anger, yelling and screaming on her part that made Romeo feel sick to his stomach as he helplessly watched her experience the pain from the long lasting and shortly spaced contractions that led her to nearing full dilation, before the final pushes and delivery.

Then finally, after the many long, painful and deliriously tiring hours, at 4:30 the following morning, Romeo and Indi heard the first relieving cries of their newborn son fill the room.

Romeo was the first to catch a glance of their baby, making his heart race with love, pride and happiness from very first sight. Then after ensuring that it wouldn't hurt either of them, he cut the umbilical cord that had connected the mother and son over the last 34 weeks before the small baby was whisked out of the room by nurses to ensure the prematurity of his delivery hadn't meant there was any problems with him, as the doctor had already warned that he would be before they had a chance to hold him.

This time while both Indi and the baby were being cleaned up and checked over allowed Romeo to shower his wife with affection, hugs and kisses over the feat that filled him with pride over her completing, and allowed Indi to calm down and catch her panting breath after the exhausting peaks of pain that she had just endured.

"I'm so proud of you" Romeo beamed, smoothing her hair out away from her forehead that was beaded with sweat. "You did such an amazing job, Indi; you have no idea how much so."

She tried to pump out a smile before collapsing while conscious against him from exhaustion, as he held her panting body close.

#

It was another forty-five minutes before the doctor brought the teeny, tiny infant that had been cleaned, weighed, measured and wrapped in a warm blue blanket back into the room where his parents were. In that time, they had had the opportunity to discuss and suggest names, so by the time that he was brought back into the room with them, he had already received his very own name...

Little baby Bailey Todd Smith.

Although exhausted, an ecstatic Indi attempted to sit upright and held her arms out as soon as she saw the doctor bringing her son back in to them. "Can I hold him?"

"Of course" her doctor smiled, walking around to the free side of the hospital bed with both Romeo and Indi's eyes glued to the small, blue package as she handed the young mother her baby son for the very first time. "Congratulations. He is a smaller baby considering the fact that he is a month and a half early, but otherwise, you have a perfectly healthy baby boy."

Instantly infatuated with the infant in her arms, Indi only heard the key words that her doctor had said, knowing all that she needed to know and what she already knew – Bailey was healthy and perfect. The relief and the special moment brought tears to her tired eyes.

"I'll leave you three to it for now, but will come back a little later to go through some information and things you will need to know because of his prematurity" the doctor said before stepping out and exiting the room, leaving Romeo to tower over his wife, while both silently gazed adoringly at the son they shared. Eventually, Romeo leaned down and glided his thumb gently over the skin of Bailey's cheek, while he latched onto Indi's finger that was touching his tiny hand.

"I'm holding you!" Indi whispered to Romeo with a smile and soft laugh, breaking her eye contact with Bailey to look at Romeo for a second, before her gaze returned to the miniature version of her husband. "He is so beautiful..."

Indi was right. Despite the supposed mesh of being half of each parent, Bailey was a miniature, under-an-hour old version of Romeo, with the only distinct difference between the father and son being that the infant, who was gazing around the room unfocusedly, had the big blue eyes of the exact same shape and colour as his mother.

His long, slim lips had the same shape and were identical to Romeo's, along with the same button nose, baby's-bottom chin and face shape. His hair could turn out as either shade of Romeo's or Indi's blonde hair, but as this stage Bailey had very fine, small wisps of a lighter blond hair that was closer to his mother's shade.

Although Indi hadn't ever seen any photos of Romeo as a baby, only as a little boy from about the age of 4 up, she was convinced that Bailey is what he would have looked like...

#

After spending a long time admiring and watching their newborn baby boy, he eventually fell to sleep, before Indi's doctor entered the room again not long after.

"Hi" the doctor smiled, speaking softly as she walked into the room towards the new parents. "How is it going with him? Has he got a name yet?"

"Yeah, Bailey's fast asleep" Indi smiled, looking down at the sleeping baby in her arms.

"Love it – same name as my nephew. Now anyway, I'm sure you're both exhausted, so I won't be long, but I just thought that I would give you a bit of a run through about what him being born prematurely is going to mean in a practical sense." The couple nodded, despite finding it hard to tear their eyes away from the subject of the discussion. "Now although he's perfectly healthy now, because he was born so early and really should have had another 5 or 6 weeks to grow, he is more susceptible to getting sick, especially with regards to his lungs and respiratory system. However, that doesn't mean that anything will happen and some premature babies end up being healthier, with less complications than babies that are carried until full term, it just varies from baby to baby as you can understand. So it basically just means that you will have to be very careful with him once you take him home, always keeping him nice and warm all the time and not exposing him to friends or family members that have colds or flu's and such like until he is older and more immune to it."

Romeo and Indi nodded at the doctor before sharing a glance with each other, knowing both were completely prepared to ensure that Bailey stayed as healthy as he was now.

"Also, although you can hold him and let others hold him, he will need to be kept in a humidicrib in the nursery until you go home which hopefully be in a few days, to a week. That will just keep him even more protected from bacteria and germs and will also keep him warmer and healthier at the same time, similarly as he would be if he was still in your womb."

Both understood and the doctor left the room again, reminding Indi of the fact that she really should sleep after the long labour that she had been through.

"Do you want to hold him Romeo?" Indi asked, as he immediately stood up and gently scooped the baby out of his wife's arms in response. "Of course I do!"

Indi smiled, lying back on the bed again, slightly further this time as she watched Romeo become completely absorbed by Bailey, studying everything about the baby, right down to his breathing pattern as he slept.

Romeo's eyes didn't move from his sleeping son in his arms, although after a while he felt the weight of his eyelids and the lack of sleep starting to take their toll on the rest of his body. He looked over to say something to Indi, before he noticed that she had fallen fast asleep since the last time he looked at her, and Romeo was unable to imagine how exhausted _she_ must have been considering that _he_ himself was tired. Smiling proudly at his family as he looked between them both, Romeo leaned down to press a very gentle kiss to Indi's sleeping head before standing up and carefully walking out of the room with Bailey still tightly implanted in his arms.

Looking up to see where he was walking as he exited the room, Romeo let out a soft laugh as he saw the occupants of the waiting room chairs that were directly across from Indi's room.

A sleeping Dex and Sasha were sitting next to each other with Sasha's head resting on Dex's shoulder as Dex's head towered on top of Sasha's own, with a blanket covering the brother and sister who had obviously fallen asleep during the waiting game.

Slowing down his pace even more as he walked to the nursery, Romeo leaned his head down to the sleeping baby's ear and whispered to Bailey: "that's your Uncle Dex and Aunty Sasha right over there, bubs. But don't take a word that either of them says to you too seriously."

He wouldn't admit, but Romeo secretly hoped that the two had been awake or that Sid was there... His pride in his child meant that he just wanted to share Bailey with the whole world and show him to everyone. However, Romeo continued walking, trying to find the nursery in the unfamiliar maternity ward that held Bailey's very own humidicrib. As Romeo was beginning to get lost, from a distance away Sid who was on his way to check on his youngest two sleeping offspring, sighted Romeo, walking over to him and after noticing the blue baby in his son-in-law's arms, lit up with a smile.

"Congratulations mate!" Sid said, beaming to Romeo, before his eyes shifted to his grandson that he was holding. Sid reached out and gently stroked the side of the sleeping baby's head with an amazed smile. "Wow... He is beautiful. Tiny, but adorable."

Romeo nodded, smiling down at his son, mirroring Sid's gaze at the baby boy too. "Thankyou. I know... Indi did such an amazing job. I'm so proud of both of them."

"Is she resting now? And has the little man got a name yet?" Sid asked curiously, getting another nod in reply from Romeo before he continued to elaborate on his answer to the question.

"Yeah, Indi's fast asleep. We called him Bailey... Baby Bailey" Romeo replied while smiling down at his son who he didn't want to let go of, although he knew that he should offer his father-in-law a hold of him.

Sid smiled at the infant, continuing to gently brush his cheek with the tip of his finger. "Bailey suits him. Does he have a middle name?"

"I had been hoping that you wouldn't ask that" Romeo confessed, chuckling lightly to himself. "But yeah, Indi insisted that he had Todd in his name too. Did you want to hold him, Sid?"

Opening his arms out, Sid slowly took his first grandchild into his arms for the first time as the two boys stood close to swap the baby from one person to the other.

Despite having not slept in 24 hours, the new dad couldn't wipe the proud smile off of his face while he watched as Sid held Bailey. "He doesn't look very much like Indi, does he?"

"Not really no" Romeo replied, stroking Bailey's sleeping head before letting out a light laugh as he continued to speak. "Although he did when he was crying earlier! But he's definitely got her eyes so I think that he looked a bit more like her when he was awake and had his eyes open."

Gently patting the baby's back in a rhythm while nodding, Sid looked up at Romeo for a moment while keeping the rhythm going. "Do you know how long Bailey is? He's still little, but he looks quite long for a premmie."

"36.5 centimetres? I think that's what the doctor said. She mentioned that he was quite tall for being 34 weeks."

Sid nodded, realizing the logical explanation. "Considering that you're the second Goliath, Romeo, and Indi's not short either, it's not surprising that he is long too."

Romeo nodded in agreement with the 3 boys standing together, representing the 3 generations, and with the exclusion of Dex, the male representatives of the family.

#

Continuing to stand together and talk, until Romeo let out a series of tired yawns, Sid realized how tiring the last hours had been for Romeo, especially at this hour, which he figured that he probably wasn't used to staying up till now like he was at the moment. "You should probably try and get some sleep, Romeo. It's been a massive day and I'm sure you guys with have a horde of visitors tomorrow."

Romeo acknowledged Sid's suggestion with a nod, rubbing his eyes and forehead after another yawn. "Yeah I know. I think that I'm on my fourteenth wind by now."

"Well we'll put the little guy away too then. He has to be in a humidicrib, right?"

"Yeah. I was trying to find the nursery before I saw you. Is it alright if I just have another quick cuddle on the way?"

Sid kissed Bailey's forehead before passing the baby back to his father. "Of course not. I apologize if I was hogging him."

"It's fine" Romeo replied as the two began walking to the nursery a couple of turns away that Sid was leading Romeo to.

Walking into the warm room filled with small babies of various shapes and sizes, the admittedly biased and proud new father informed Sid that none of the other babies in the room were anywhere near as beautiful as his own son that was in his arms.

Sid smiled and agreed while he opened up and prepared the humidicrib for his grandson while Romeo said his goodbyes to Bailey.

"Dad loves you buddy," he whispered into the infant's tiny ear before kissing the top of his head gently with a smile. "I'll see you soon."

* * *

><p><strong>So, Bailey's here! A big, BIG thank you to all of you that have suggested names after I asked for them! I appreciated all of your suggestions so much and although it made it easier for me, I still changed my mind over his name about 3 or 4 times from some of the different suggestions when I was writing earlier chapters, until I finally stuck with Bailey! I hope you all like his name just as much as I do anyway!<strong>

**Also, many more thankyou's to all my lovely, lovely unexpected reviewers in the last chapter! I was astonished by all of the reviews and several lovely long ones at that! It was 100% the boost that I needed. I have decided to continue this story for now too because of all the feedback, so thanks! **

**Question for next chapter... Who do YOU want in the next chapter? Dex and Sash will be visiting Romeo, Indi & Bailey for granted, but I think that this is a good opportunity to explore new friendship dynamics and encorporate others from the Bay that can give them a visit too. The most popular people/couple will be included!**

**Next Chapter:**

**# Romeo and Indi discuss and try to come to terms with what being born prematurely means for Bailey. **

**# Dex, Sasha and others meet Bailey for the first time.**

**# Sid and Indi have a heart-to-heart. **

**# Romeo has a last minute panic. **


	23. Chapter 23

**Just a quick A/N before the chapter gets started, but before anyone points out the obvious, I unfortunately DO know that Rocco died on the show. As you will quickly notice however, is that in this FanFiction, he is still alive for the sake of possible interaction with Bailey in the very distant future.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 23 – <strong>

Later that day, it was getting close to midday when after an extremely dodgy few hours of sleep in the uncomfortable 'bed' of a chair in Indi's hospital room, Romeo woke up from discomfort again, stirring and moving around to try and get comfortable, but not being able to settle again. During their flickering open, Romeo's eyes spotted that Indi was sitting up, awake and holding Bailey.

"Hey" he smiled as he sat up a little straighter, while wiping his overtired eyes. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired, but alright…" she said, looking at the clock in the room for the time. "Better than I was feeling this time yesterday!"

He nodded briefly as he used the limited energy he had to get up and walk over to his wife and son. Romeo pressed a kiss on the top of her blond hair before lowering his head, kissing Bailey's forehead. "How long have you been awake?"

"Not long. 20 minutes or so… The nurse offered to bring him in after I woke up."

Romeo nodded to her in acknowledgement, sitting down on the bed next to her and as Indi slowly shuffled over to give him more room, he wrapped his arm around her, gently pulling Indi and Bailey closer to him. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around the last day. I still can't believe that he is actually here. I don't think that I had prepared myself mentally for him to be born so early, so realization hasn't kicked in yet."

"You and me both" Indi confessed honestly, looking down at the baby in her arms. "At least he's here safely, but my biggest concern now is just that he will have problems with his health because he was born so early.

Romeo stroked Bailey's tiny hand with one finger. "I'm worried about that too, Indi, but look at him. He's perfectly healthy now so lets just focus on that."

"But what about babies like Rocco… He was born premmie as well and he has just gone from one complication to the next."

"I know. I thought that too, but think about it. He was born several weeks even _earlier_ than Bailey, _and_ he needed a blood transfusion – that alone can bring all sorts of risks and problems with it. That combined isn't good odds but even despite all of that, he's still fighting. And we have the advantage of having a doctor in the house. Plus babies are stronger than what we realize."

She let out a sigh of exhaustion and fear. "The doctor said that varies from baby to baby, who knows what he'll be like and if he'll be strong enough."

"Indi. I'm telling you to relax. Enjoy our first moments with him. Stressing will have absolutely no benefit. Besides, I was born premmie like him and I think I was at either 33 or 34 weeks too so if _I_ could be okay under _my_ parents care, then Bailey will be perfectly fine."

Indi nodded, pressing a kiss to the top of Bailey's small head while Romeo reassuringly squeezed her free hand that wasn't holding their son. "He is going to be fine and we are going make sure that he is."

The silence that followed didn't last very long before both Indi and Romeo looked up after hearing familiar voices outside of the room saying: "Look, the door's open!" That announcement was followed by a much louder squeal of someone else yelling: "She's awake!"

This was all heard before the grunts and groans of a male and female that were nearing closer and closer, along with the repeated struggling squeals of "DEX!" or "SASHA!"

Seconds later, Dex and Sasha burst through the door, nearly getting stuck in the doorframe due to their coordinated timing before they both raced over to Indi's bedside where the 3 had been sitting together. Carelessly shoving Dex out of the way, Sasha had tunnel-vision on her brand new nephew who she had in her sights. Behind the new aunty and uncle who were closing in on the hospital bed, Sid and then Casey entered into the room, trailing behind them.

"Hey" Indi smiled, looking up to her younger brother and sister. "Meet Bailey."

"Oh my goodness, guys! He is beautiful!" Sasha beamed excitedly.

"He is one good looking alien" Dex agreed with an impressed nod. "Congrats".

As the aunty and uncle crowded around their new nephew and his parents, Sid spoke up from near the door where he was observing his family from afar. "Is this too much for you, Indi? Do you want some of us to go?"

The blond shook her head in response to her overprotective father's question. "I'm fine. I don't mind if you all stay."

This prompted Sasha, almost on cue, to turn around to grab Casey's hand, who had been hovering behind the siblings uncomfortably in the momentous family moment, dragging him excitedly over to in-between herself and Dex for her boyfriend to see Bailey too.

The River Boy cracked a smile as he too looked down at the newborn. "Congratulations Indi and Romeo. That is awesome!"

"Thanks" Indi smiled, before turning her attention to Dex and Sasha who were still fawning over Bailey. "Did one of you want to hold him?"

Instantly and precisely at the same time, the two dark-haired teenagers confirmed Indi's question with a: "Yes!"

"Okay…." Indi replied with a light laugh, before gesturing to her brother and sister with her free hand. "Do you guys want to work out between you who wants to hold him first then?"

Throwing her arms out in Indi's direction, Sasha enthusiastically seized the moment before her brother had the chance to. "Here, I'll hold him!"

Before either of the girls had a chance to move, Dex pushed Sasha's shoulder to shove her out of the way, before he mirrored her action that he had shifted her from. "No I'm the older one! I should hold him first!"

"I'm her sister so I should hold him first" Sasha argued, crossing her arms in front of her defensively, getting ready for a fight against Dex.

Dex copied his sister's actions again, crossing his arms identically, making the already similar-looking siblings look even more alike. "Well I'm her brother AND my name comes first in the alphabet so I should hold Bailey first."

"That's not a reason!" Sasha spat out with annoyance before taking a step closer to him with the aim of intimidation. "I was here for Indi when she first went into labour before Romeo got here, so that means that by far I have the right to hold him first. Bailey and I have that connection now!"

The jet-haired male shook his head, gearing into the fight with his sister that he was quite used. "Well I'm Indi's full brother, you're only our half-sister so I'm more related to him than you are" Dex said to her, not realizing how much the comment hurt her as Sasha's face dropped from the fact that she had tried to forget since joining the already established family eighteen months ago.

"That's a low blow Dex!" Sasha replied bitterly, not letting her hurt from the comment show as she stood her ground, not backing down.

"Just rock-paper-scissor's it" Romeo suggested from next to Indi, where he had been watching the whole fight of the siblings that was merely one of the many between the two that he had seen in his time.

Each of the duo agreed with the suggestion, sending a death glare in each other's way before they played off against each other, until the winner after the best of three games was determined.

"YES!" Sasha exclaimed with an added fist pump while Dex went and cowered in the corner with Sid, before the two sister's exchanged baby Bailey from Indi's arms to Sasha's.

"He is so cute," Sasha cooed as she carefully walked backwards and took a seat in the chair closest to the bed. The same chair that had acted as Romeo's bed over the hours before now.

"Aw, I want one!" she added accidentally, but controversially as all five pairs of eyes in the room looked over to her. It was only when the smiling girl looked up to see the looks of her father, siblings, brother-in-law and boyfriend when she realized that what she had said had come out in the completely wrong way. "Oops. No, no I don't want one. That just came out really, really badly."

The eyes didn't move and the looks didn't shift in any way and Sasha knew she had to at least attempt to explain herself and the comment she meant innocently. "You know, baby's are like puppies… And even if you're allergic to puppies or something like that, you still want to have one!"

Romeo's face smirked with amusement, before he took the opportunity to tease the younger girl. "So basically, what you are trying to say is that you're allergic to baby's, but you still want to have one?"

"Oh forget this!" a frustrated Sasha exclaimed as she let out an annoyed grunt. "I am not even going to attempt to dig myself out of this hole. I know what I meant!"

Romeo laughed at the sixteen year old and her sharp fuse. "It's okay Sash. I was just teasing. I think we know what you mean."

"Yeah, but hurry up Sasha! I want to hold him!" Dex said from the corner next to his father, speaking for the first time since his defeat.

"You might want to give Dex a quick cuddle Sash. He's probably going to want a feed anytime now…" Indi advised, with the unwilling Sasha not wanting to give up holding the boy, before Sid forced her to unless she wanted consequences.

After being passed the baby, Dex started whispering in a language to his nephew that no-one else in the room could understand a word of, getting a strange look from Casey who was standing in-between him and Sasha.

Dexter noticed the look, returning his sister's boyfriend who he had been gaining confidence around, with a glare. "What are you looking at, Braxton?! It's Klingon."

"Can we work at him learning the English language _first_ please?" Indi suggested, looking over to her brother with a hopeful look.

Looking down at the baby in his arms, moving him a bit to shift him closer and more comfortably, Dex shook his head. "He is my nephew and I can train him as I would have liked to have been trained and raised."

"When did you become so interested and excited in baby's Dex? The last time I remember you having contact with one was with George... And you thought babies were just mutant aliens."

He shrugged, looking down at Bailey first before looking up to Indi. "I don't know. I guess that George wasn't flesh and blood, blood and sand, whatever it is that your bros have inked all over them" he replied, gesturing over to Casey before continuing to speak to his sister. "But Bailey is. And you never know… There could be some facet of his looks or personality that he's gotten from _me_, so I can't insult him, otherwise it's like insulting myself and if there is any 'Dexter' in his personality, then I need to harvest and reap that and not let it go to waste!"

"Fair enough" Indi laughed, along with a few other amused expression's in the room.

Dex held him for a few minutes longer, until Sasha started to ask for another hold of the infant. Before the siblings had time for another debate, the baby in Dex's arms was becoming unsettled and restless, squirming within in the blue blanket that was tightly around him.

He passed Bailey back to his mother, who attempted to rock him and pat his back to stop the small cries, without success, realizing her son wanted something else.

Sid left to get a nurse who had offered to assist Indi if she needed help with the first feed while Casey, Dex and Sasha said their goodbyes to Indi, taking Romeo with them out for lunch or brunch in the Bay, telling her that they would come back a bit later again.

#

Not quite an hour later, Sid had been walking around the hospital chasing up paperwork for his own job, but noticed the door of Indi's room being open again as he walked past. He knocked lightly on the door of the room before walking inside to where Indi was holding Bailey, both with their eyes shut and nearly asleep, before Indi awakened to see who was in the room.

"Sorry. Do you want me to come back later?" Sid checked apologetically as Indi rubbed her eyes and let a yawn escape from her lips.

"No that's fine, dad. I just tried to have a quick catnap, but I think I'm so overtired that I'm not tired enough to sleep."

Sid looked at her for confirmation, receiving an insistent nod as Indi gestured for him to sit at the end of the bed. He followed her instructive action and sat down on the end of the mattress, facing her.

"Sorry if I sort of ignored you earlier when the others were here… Dex and Sasha were quite good at taking up the spotlight!" He acknowledged her with a nod and smile that followed it.

"That's fine. They were excited to meet your little man. Besides, I was already lucky enough to see him and have a hold when Romeo was taking him to the nursery."

"Yeah. He said that you did. But I was dead to the world by then" she laughed. "Did you want another hold, dad?"

He nodded and stood up to take Bailey from Indi before moving back to his spot on the end of the bed.

"So dad…. What do you want to be to Bailey? Grandpa? Pop? Granddad? Poppa? Something else?"

"Well, although Bailey is incredibly adorable, I'm not too thrilled that you and Romeo have made me a grandparent when I feel too young to be one. But I've been thinking about that and I think that granddad's the best."

Indi nodded watching her father and her son with a smile. "Sorry about that, but alright… Granddad Sid it is! Besides, you do realize that you are going to have some big shoes to fill in the grandfather department, right? You're more than likely going to be the only grandfather in Bailey's life."

The older man nodded proudly at his daughter before his focus turned back to watching the baby in his arms, who like his mother had only appeared to invest in a short catnap before waking again to look around the room without any focus. "Romeo was right."

The blond looked at her father with no idea what he was talking about, a confusion that was evident in her facial expressions, before Sid explained himself. "I saw Bailey when he was asleep and he just looked like Romeo. 100% him, but Romeo was right – he said that he looks more like you, especially in the eyes, when he's awake."

"Really?" Indi smiled excitedly, before shrugging. "But I still think that I've just given birth to a little, cloned Romeo though… Which means he's probably more likely to act like me; poor kid."

Looking up from holding his firstborn grandchild, a slight frown crossed Sid's lips. "Don't say that Indi. I'm so proud of you. So, so proud… You have no idea."

"Thanks dad" she smiled before he continued to speak.

"Really Indi, I truly mean that. I've wanted to tell you for a while now, how proud I am of you. In all honesty, if we were sitting here a year ago, I don't know how much you would have been able to handle or cope with motherhood. But I feel like over the course of the last year, I have watched you transform from being the bordering on self-absorbed teenager that I used to know, to an independent woman and wife. I know that it by no means has been easy or smooth sailing for you and Romeo with your marriage and such like, but I'm so proud of you both for hanging in there and sticking with it together."

Indi could feel herself tearing up as Sid paused, with Indi forcing herself to sniffle as subtly as she could before he continued speaking.

"I've watched you learn to put yourself and your wants second to others with Romeo, with Sasha and Dex, and even with myself. I know that you have become a better and more caring person for it, so I know that you are going to make such a terrific mother to little Bailey."

Indi had been hiding her head in embarrassment, looking down at her hands to hide the tears that were forming, but as he finished, she couldn't ignore the flowing tears that he had caused. "Come here please dad," she said softly with a sniffle.

Sid stood up and walked over to Indi as she, being cautious of Bailey, carefully leaned forward to pull him into a hug. "Thank you, but I hate you for ganging up against me with my hormones… But it meant a lot to hear you say that."

"Anytime, Indi. You've earned yourself that much praise at least."

The father and daughter stayed in the hug for a few moments until they pulled away.

#

Meanwhile, at the Diner, Dex, Sasha, Casey and Romeo were getting lunch. The four sat at a table together, Casey and Sasha were giggling away as they shared a cheesecake for dessert, Dex was using hot chips as 'comfort food' as an excuse while he watched the sappy two lovebirds and the new father was sitting there quietly, feeling as though he was asleep with his eyes open as he drank his fourth cup of coffee after having had a mere 4 hours of sleep over the last 36 hours.

Shortly after the couple's dessert finished, Sasha eagerly tried to motivate the boys to leave and go back to the hospital. "Come on men! I'm having withdrawals... I need to go see the world's cutest nephew again!"

"Um, world's cutest nephew? What about Rocco, Sash?" Casey debated, resisting her attempted pull to make him stand up as he questioned her statement.

Sasha nodded confidently. "Yeah. Rocco's not my nephew, so Rocco's just the second cutest baby."

Holding his hand out to his girlfriend to shake, Casey let out a brief sigh before attempting to make a truce deal. "How about Bailey and Rocco are even in cute-levels, but our nephews are each the most adorable baby to us, while the other's nephew is the most adorable baby that's not related to us. How's that?"

"Okay… That works" Sasha nodded, considering the statement before shaking her head as she pondered it further. "No, no it doesn't. What if we ever get married? Then we'll both be related to both of them!"

"True, but for the time being, Rocco's my nephew so I'm biased to think that he's just that bit cuter."

"Casey Braxton!" The sixteen year old gasped, as she leant over and attempted to block Romeo's ears from the next seat over while he tried to push her hands away. "How dare you speak those words! Bailey's father is right here in our presence! He'll beat you up or something like that if he hears you say that!"

Nearby, the ever chirpy Marilyn heard the few keywords that captured her attention enough to excitedly rush to the table, tapping on Romeo's shoulder. "Oh! Has Indi had her baby?!"

"Damn, I meant to send a text out earlier but I completely forgot. Yeah, she had him at about 4 this morning" Romeo replied with a smile as the blond woman swept the young man up in an ecstatic hug.

"Oh congratulations Romeo! Has he got a name? How is Indi? Give her my love! I'll come by and see her later today if she's okay to have visitors!"

"Yeah, Bailey. She's fine considering everything, just tired. I'm sure Indi would love visitors though" Romeo said once Marilyn had ended the brief embrace.

The blond was in a frazzle of excitement, trying to calm herself down before she replied. "Of course! I'll come and see them both later today! Have you got any photos of the little bubby?"

"Is the grass green? Of course he has photos of him" Sasha witted, sticking her head over to them from where she had been conversting with the other two boys.

Romeo laughed lightly from Sasha's comment before pulling his phone out of the pocket of his shorts, proudly showing Marilyn the reel of photos that could create an entire album.

"OH! He is so adorable! So little!" Marilyn squealed, resting a hand on her chest in excitement. Marilyn's loud voice caught the attention of a few of the couple's other friends like Roo, Leah and others who were supposed to be working too, but flocked around to see the digital images of the newborn.

Still sitting at the table, Sasha, Dex and Casey settled in, knowing that there was no way that they would be leaving anytime soon now...

#

After the four finally left the Diner with many promising to visit soon the hospital to see them, the destination of which they had just returned.

Walking straight into the room, Romeo laughed at the first thing that he noticed when he walked in - Indi's expression. She had obviously just received her lunch and was disgustedly prodding the hospital food with her fork.

"You look happy" he teased, while approaching her side of the bed, holding a takeaway bag from the Diner.

"I think they've gotten something mixed up. Just because I'm in the maternity ward, doesn't mean I want baby food…" she stated, gesturing to the unappetizing slops of 'food' on her plate.

Romeo handed her the brown paper bag that she snatched up eagerly. "Thank you! I love you!" Indi beamed as she shoved the first plate aside and took out the two containers that held her favourite takeaway, Caesar Salad and a chocolate muffin.

"You're welcome" he smiled, sitting down on the nearby seat as she tucked into the food.

"Hey where are the others, Romeo?" Indi asked, realizing that although four of them had left earlier, only one person of the initial quad had returned. "They drove me crazy so I shot them. But nah, Sasha went to the bathroom, so Casey's waiting for her and I think Dex said he was going to talk to your dad."

She nodded, continuing to eat until she had nearly finished the meal before being interrupted again.

Sasha attempted to imitate the noise of a trumpet fanfare, while Casey and Dex trailed into the room behind her with their hands full. Dex was holding numerous inflated balloons of different shades of blue and silver, along with a multi-coloured one, each containing their own different congratulatory messages like: "_It's a boy!_", "_Baby boy!_" and "_Congratulations!_". Next to him, Casey had his arms full with two different large flower arrangements, while Sasha carried inside a big blue teddy bear. It was a spectacularly lavish sight to say the least.

"What's this?!" Romeo laughed looking over to Indi, before looking back at the trio.

"Well, Sasha here decided to buy out the gift shop. Bailey is one expensive baby!" Dex informed the couple as he placed the balloons in different corners of the room.

Although appreciating her sister's kindness and big heart, Indi giggled as she watched Casey struggling to put the flowers down amongst the other stuff that filled the room. "Thanks Sash, but you really didn't have to. You've spent so much money on him already."

"Don't mention it! It's my job as Bailey's aunty to spoil him absolutely rotten and work on achieving my position as his favourite aunty when he's older!" Sasha smiled happily. "Bailey's in the nursery by the way, isn't he?"

Indi nodded and Sasha turned to Casey. "Okay…. Hey, Case? Want to come and see the little spunk with me?"

Before Casey had a chance to reply, Dex butted in with a laugh. "Little spunk? By the sounds of it, your position is being overwritten by a baby, Casey!"

"Nah" Sasha replied, shaking her head at her brother. "It's a close one, but I figure that I can have a big spunk _and_ a little spunk all at the same time. But you'll need to watch out Romeo and Indi - Bailey's going to be _such_ a hot heartbreaker when he's older… He'll have girls dripping off him."

The room broke into laughter from multiple sources after that mental image of the young baby that hadn't even reached 24 hours of age yet.

However, the light moment was interrupted when Romeo instantly stood up in a flurry, searching for his keys in the room while wearing a new panicked expression.

"What's wrong?" Indi asked with concern from her husband's distress.

"I forgot."

As he found his keys, he headed over to Indi, kissing her briefly before she continued questioning him. "Huh? You forgot? What did you forget?"

"Because he's so early, I've only had a chance to build his cot. I forgot to make the bassinette, change table and pram" Romeo responded as he ran a panicky hand through his hair.

"Calm down, Romeo. It's alright. We're not coming home for a few days. You've got time."

He shook his head. "No. I have to do it now otherwise I'll just worry that it won't get done in time."

"Do you want a hand? I can help you out with it if you want" Casey offered from where he and Sasha were sitting together on the opposite side of the room.

"Uh, yeah, sure, if you want" Romeo replied sketchily as Casey stood up and walked over to the other man, both about to leave together when Dex added "Alright, alright, I don't know how much of a help I'll be, but I'll try to put my ripped muscles to good use and help out too."

Romeo nodded, thanking him before the three boys farewelled the girls and left, leaving the two sisters alone until they returned later that day.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry for the random ending, but it was the best that I could come up with for that point! I can't believe how long this chapter is though! WOW! Anyway, thanks to all of you beautiful people who reviewed the last chapter - I'm SO glad that you Bailey's name! Also, thank you to those for the feedback of who they wanted to make an appearance in this chapter, and as you would have noticed, Casey won hands-down! <strong>

**In response to the dedicated CaseyRubyFan, sorry there wasn't MUCH Indi and Casey friendship interaction in this chapter, which I know that you love, but I couldn't really work much more into it with the plans I already had for this chapter. BUT, in around chapter 26, there will be a lot of Casey & Indi interaction which will be the start of a lot more friendship parts for them. Also, thanks to vampchik4000 for your great suggestion - I might be able to work that one in somewhere! ;) **

**Also, can I just say a REALLY big thank you in general. I took a moment to just step back and understand the number of reviews for this story - 122 in 22 chapters - that is a lot, ESPECIALLY for a less-popular pairing in the show. So, THANK YOU! Thank you all! Your continued support means so much to me! **

**Wow, that was a long A/N - sorry! **

**Next chapter:**

**# Romeo and Indi take Bailey home. **

**# Indi becomes increasingly frustrated with Romeo's excessive overprotection. **

**# Romeo and Indi both quickly discover the downsides of having a newborn during the night. **


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24 - **

A little over a week later, Romeo had multiple bags slung over his shoulder and was holding the carry capsule next to Indi as she signed the dismissal papers in the nurses bay of the Maternity Ward. Next to Romeo, Sasha, the ever-doting aunty, was leaning against the wall rocking Bailey as she focused on keeping him settled. Sid was standing next to Indi guiding her through the paperwork and what it meant to help the gibberish that it translated to from the paper to her baby brain.

"Alright" Sid smiled as he signed the bottom of the page. "You guys are all set to leave. I'll see you at home later on."

The couple, the teenager and the baby left the hospital, maternity ward and took their time to walk out to the car, with Sasha commentating about the path for Bailey's sake the entire way.

"Don't look too closely Bay, but that big bright thing's called the _sun_" Sasha said to the infant that she was carrying, covering her nephews eyes after he started to wriggle unhappily in her arms which was prompted by the sudden brightness. "And those white things that look like humungous yummy marshmallows are called _clouds_, and that blue thing that there's a whole stack of is called the _sky_."

Romeo and Indi smiled at each other from the amusement that was provided by Indi's younger sister as they neared the car.

"Do you want me to put him in the car seat?" Sasha checked as Romeo unlocked the boot to put the bags that he had been carrying into, which he had been carrying.

"Uh, do you know how to do it, Sash?" Indi questioned, getting a nod in response before she watched Sasha, looking over her shoulder as the younger of the two girls carefully placed the baby into his seat for the first time and buckled him in.

"Be careful…" Romeo warned as he climbed into the drivers seat, looking over his shoulder to watch his sister-in-law handling his tiny son, like Indi had been.

Satisfied that she had done the job properly and safely, Indi got into the passengers spot in the front, with Sasha following her action in the seat directly behind her.

"Oh yuck! The car stinks!" Indi exclaimed as she inhaled air from the antibacterial disinfectant-smelling vehicle.

Brushing off his wife's comment with a blasé shrug, Romeo didn't say much – something that Sasha, who knew more than Indi did, observed as he started driving out of the car park while Indi continued to attempt to identify the smell and where it had come from.

"Did it smell this bad this morning when you two drove here?" Indi asked with a scrunched nose from the unpleasant smell. "What _is_ that smell?"

"Yeah. It stunk even worse than this earlier" Sasha smirked as she looked to the couple in front of her before Bailey caught her eye again, prompting her attention to shift as she started to coo at him.

Still, Romeo remained silent and not a part of the conversation.

Indi spent the next few minutes continuing to grumble about it one-sidedly, before Sasha piped up from the backseat. "It smells sort of like cleaning products… Doesn't it, Romeo…?"

"Not really" he replied, brushing her off coolly as he maintained his cover of appearing to focus on driving.

"No, I'm pretty sure it's cleaning stuff… A bit of metho, a bit of spray and wipe… Sound about right?"

He shook his head, failing to comment in response, which Sasha played to her advantage. "I don't know why you're so blasé about it. There's no law about guys being able to clean!"

"Aw, did you clean the car?" Indi smiled, looking over to Romeo who was still looking ahead, with the two having completely different attitudes.

"Yeah. Just did a quick little vacuum and clean on the inside..."

Sasha laughed. "Quick? Little? You spent hours on it! You basically fumigated it… I don't think that the poor car has ever been exposed to so many chemicals!"

Romeo who had no intentions of responding to her taunts, lost the opportunity even if he wanted to as Indi butted in first after she had finished laughing. "A bit of a case of paranoia-itis? Please don't turn into a next generation version of my father."

"Don't worry. There's not much chance of that happening," he added while maintaining his cool attitude. "I just thought that it was better to be safe, rather than sorry with the whole germs thing."

Indi nodded in acknowledgement with a smile that Romeo couldn't see while he continued driving, slowly decreasing in speed...

#

The entire time since the cleaning conversation, Indi had been relaxing with her eyes closed while Romeo was listening to Sasha talking to Bailey, telling the unresponsive baby everything and anything that she thought of – just as long as she was talking.

Currently, the sixteen year old was halfway through telling him her entire life story, before her slightly agitated sister reminded her. "Sash, he's 8 days old. He's not going to talk back to you, and he probably has no idea what you are babbling on about to him."

"I think that she just likes talking to hear the sound of her own voice" Romeo witted with a smirk from the front seat.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Romeo" Sasha replied half-heartedly as she affectionately rubbed her nephew's belly.

Indi opened her eyes as she moved around to get comfortable again, getting a slight surprise as she saw where they had reached in the journey so far since she had last checked. "Are we only on Wilson's road?! I thought we would have been at least on Raine by now!"

"Yeah, it does feel like it's taking _forever_" Sasha added, however, neither of the girls received a reply from Romeo who had gone quiet again.

Out of the corner of her eye, Indi had noted the speedometer's current number – half of what she had expected it to be.

"40? Romeo this is an 80 zone! No wonder we're only here."

Romeo nodded in acknowledgment. "I know, but we've got precious cargo in here, so I just want to be extra careful."

"There's no-one else on the road Romeo. There rarely ever is" Indi replied with one of her perfected eye rolls.

Romeo didn't listen, nor change the speed of his course… This was an action that an increasingly annoyed Indi noticed.

"You know what? This is cool. I should probably enrol Bailey in primary school, perhaps even high school too, because by the time that we get home, he'll probably be about that age!" Indi said sarcastically with a bitter and frustrated attitude that was rubbing off on Romeo now too.

"If you don't have anything nice to say-" Romeo started to retort before Indi exploded. "Or what? Or what, Romeo?! Will you drive any faster than a sloth?"

In the backseat, Sasha was silently listening to the couple's argument as she began to tickle Bailey's belly, telling the baby boy, much to the annoyance of his parents that were within hearing range: "Aw, mummy and daddy are fighting, Bay. Sorry to say it buddy, but you're going to have to get used to that noise."

In agreement and unison for the first time today, Romeo and Indi told Sasha off with a simultaneous: "Shut up!" from the teenager's comment that was not needed in the tense situation.

#

20 minutes later, they were still slowly but surely making their way to the Farm, but now with the additional spasmodic grizzle of Bailey who was threateningly on the verge of crying. Sasha had been trying to settle him, smother him with kisses as a distraction and give him his dummy, but so far, every attempt had just increased the decibel of the noise.

However, little Bailey was at the end of his tether, which was made known publically as his grizzles escalated rapidly into a loud cry.

"Pull over Romeo" Indi said as she let out a pent up sigh before adding another narky comment. "Mind you, you're driving so slow that I'm sure I could safely get out now."

Romeo didn't rise to the bait of her comment and pulled over obediently.

"Sash, swap seats with me" Indi said as the sister's got out and swapped seats of the stationary vehicle.

Sitting down and stroking her son's head, watching him for a sign of what the matter was before she rhetorically questioned him. "What's wrong bubba?"

"Is he hungry or dirty or something?" Romeo suggested as he pulled onto the road again, driving at the same tedious speed.

"Romeo! He doesn't need a nappy change and he wouldn't need a feed. He's just unsettled and sick of driving. And he's not the only one!" Indi replied angrily, losing her temper at her husband from the pressure of the crying and the still unfamiliar bewilderment that came with that.

#

Eventually, Indi managed to calm little Bailey, just before arriving at the farm after the continually slow drive.

Despite Sasha offering to collect her nephew from the car, Indi took her son as Sasha and Romeo pulled the bags out from the car and the four made their way up to the house.

Dex had been home alone at the time, and came out of his room to greet his family upon hearing the noise of familiar voices suddenly.

"And the prodigal sister and her family returns home!" Dex announced, walking over to Indi and giving her a brief hug, before turning his attention to his nephew. "I swear that kid has grown since yesterday!"

"But he's still tinier than tiny, Dex" Indi sighed as the issue that had played on her mind a lot over the last week was brought up causing her to overlook the positivity of his comment.

Noticing her reaction and bearing in mind his similar, but less evident feelings and fears, Romeo squeezed her hand in reassurance. "He'll get there, Indi."

In response, Indi simply exhaled a sigh and left the other three standing around in the hall as she, followed soon after by Romeo and Sasha, made a beeline for the couple's bedroom as the two carrying bags put what they were holding down in free spots around the room.

"Can you just give us a minute, Sash?" Indi asked as she repositioned the baby in her arms during the awkward silence as the three stood there, not entirely sure what to say or do next.

The perceptive teen nodded, remembering the additional tension from the car ride as she walked out without another word. After the door had been closed, leaving the small family to be alone, Romeo took Indi's free hand in his own and guided her towards their bed as they sat down on the side.

"Listen... Can we just forget that whole coming home thing? It wasn't exactly the most ideal first moments out of the hospital for Bailey, but I think we were both a bit overwhelmed and felt in over our heads."

Indi nodded simply, resting her hand on her husband's shoulder as an affectionate response. "I know, when I wasn't yelling at you, I spent the rest of the time thinking about why we were clashing. I think that our problem is that we both _mean_ the best for him, but we're thinking and going about it in very different ways that just aren't connecting."

"It's probably one of those time things, you know; something that corrects itself over time and experience. But anyway, we're all good, aren't we?"

The blond nodded, slowly and smoothly nearing her face towards her husband's until their lips were locked in a kiss. A kiss which lasted for several minutes until Sasha burst into the room excitedly and appearing to have completely forgotten about the tense situation that she had left a few minutes prior to now.

"Oh, oops!" she mumbled in her excited hype, as the couple broke away as an immediate reaction to the noise. "Well this is awkward...Anyway, can I steal your son for a bit? I want to take him on an official tour of the Walker-Smith abode" Sasha added, gesturing to the baby lying in Indi's arm between them.

Kissing the baby's head, Indi stood up from the bedside and walked over to her only sister, handing her Bailey. "Sure. Just be careful with him, okay?"

"When am I not?!" Sasha retorted with annoyance before carrying her nephew out of the room in her loving arms as her neurotic demeanour reverted back to a smile within seconds.

The next stop of the teenager was the lounge room as she attempted to position the baby with a better view of the room from her hold as she did a slow 180 degree turn from the entrance, giving him a rundown of the combined lounge room, dining room and kitchen area, along with some of the usual interactions that Sasha listed for Bailey to expect to take place in the room.

Walking past the kitchen, she next entered the laundry and bathroom with running commentary of the two rooms briefly, before she moved on, to her room.

"And here is the best room of the house, buddy. If you're lucky, you can have sleepovers with Aunty Sash when your mummy and daddy let you" she said to the completely unresponsive baby who likely had no idea what she had been raving on about. She gave Bailey the most extensive detail into her own room, telling him all sorts of stuff about her belongings and room for some time before making her way into Dex's room next door.

"Sash!-" Dex had started to say with annoyance at the unwelcome visitor who was entering the room, before he had noticed the boy in his sister's arms. "Can I have a hold?"

"No. I'm giving him a tour of the house. Stop interrupting us" Sasha told Dex firmly, before giving the baby information about the current room, additionally adding a few snarky comments aimed especially at her brother. Before long, she had left the room again, entering Bailey's parents room who were both busy with sorting and getting their room into some sort of order for the new difference of having a baby with them too since their room was last occupied by the two of them.

Once again, Sasha spent a minute or two talking to the baby boy as she was once again reminded by Romeo that she was basically wasting her breath for all the sense that it would make to Bailey, before she moved onto the last room.

"Last but not least, your grandad's room, Bailes!" Sasha announced loudly, opening the door to her father's room and providing basic commentary of the room before returning to the couple in the next room over. "Hey can I take him for a short walk around the farm? So that I can show him a few things."

The question led to a fussing over the baby on Romeo and Indi's part, ensuring that they smothered him with sunscreen, protected him from the sun with a light baby blanket over the pram and that Romeo went on the walk with Sasha, just in case.

#

Later that night after Bailey had slept for an hour during the walk, Indi spent a long time attempting to rock him to sleep once again. She had tried in dark and dim rooms; she had tried in light rooms. She had tried outside; she had tried inside. She had tried talking and singing; she had tried being completely silent. She had tried letting Romeo giving it a shot; she had tried Sasha rocking him; she had tried Dex and Sid trying, but the stubborn and wide-eyed baby boy wouldn't give in.

It wasn't until ten o'clock at night when Indi noticed that her little boy was finally asleep.

"About time" she sighed to herself, getting up from the lounge and walking to her room where Romeo was doing some paperwork on his laptop that he was behind with since his son's unexpectedly early delivery a week earlier

"He asleep?" Romeo questioned looking up as he heard the footsteps entering the room.

"Yeah" Indi replied with a soft nod, walking over to the cot that was positioned at the end of the couple's bed.

"Hold on. Can I give him a quick cuddle before you put him in?" he asked, putting the laptop aside and getting up from the bed as soon as he spoke.

"Okay but be quick and realize that if you wake him, you die."

Romeo acknowledged his wife, taking their tiny son from her arms and wrapping his own around him, holding him close and pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead, before stroking Bailey's fine blond wisps of hair.

The embrace lasted for a few moments until with a final kiss on the top of his head, Romeo lowered Bailey into his cot as he and Indi fussed over the silent figure, tucked him in and admired their son from their bird's eye view.

Not long after, Indi who had been awake since early that morning with getting her and Bailey's belonging's and gifts ready and packed for their departure from the hospital, went to bed too.

Romeo however, stayed up to finish what he was doing and was still awake when Bailey woke up for the first time that night, an hour after he had fallen to sleep, waking his sleeping mother up too.

Romeo bolted to attend to the young baby as Indi stirred and tried to seep all her motivation in order tp awaken herself before Romeo informed her of the status shortly after he picked Bailey up. "Nappy change... I got him."

"Thanks" she mumbled sleepily before throwing her head back into the pillow, attempting to filter out the light while Romeo changed his grizzling son's dirty nappy as quickly as he could. Once the task had been completed, he turned off the light as fast as he could for Indi's sake, before rocking Bailey until he was convinced that he was asleep once again. Putting him back in the cot that out-scaled the baby almost to a laughable extent, Romeo too headed to bed, in preparation for the long night that lay ahead.

#

The three managed to get a few hours sleep from Bailey's most recent 11 o'clock wake up while Romeo was awake, until the crying woke both Romeo and Indi up at 1am.

Romeo was the first out of bed, taking Bailey from the cot and attempting to rock him until he stopped crying as he took him back to bed with him.

Both were sitting up and attempting to care for the little boy until Indi took Bailey from Romeo in the now lamp-lit room. "I think he's hungry. You can try and get some more sleep."

The tired Romeo didn't need to be told that twice as he rolled over and tried to fall back into his previous slumber, leaving Indi to try and keep herself awake as she fed Bailey.

#

The couple were able to enjoy a little under another 3 hours of sleep before the human alarm clock went off again at 4, waking both parents once again.

It was Romeo who was once again the first out of bed, mumbling to his son: "You know, you're getting less and less cute each time you wake up" quietly, despite the fact that both parents did in fact love him to bits, providing the motivation for each time that they were awakening to him.

"Great. Dirty nappy again" Romeo revealed in a whisper to Indi who turned the lamp on as she was sitting up, rubbing her eyes while he started to walk back towards the cot. "Do you a deal. I'll do night nappies; you do night feeds, that way the other can crash in-between."

Indi exhaustedly let out some sort of mumbled response before her head instantaneously hit the pillow after her husband's suggestion, leaving him to change their son and soothe him back to sleep.

#

An hour and a half after Romeo's turn, Bailey kept things fair. Romeo once again collected the baby from his bed, rocking him and assessing the problem behind his tears before sitting on the bed. "Indi? I think it's feeding time for the little monkey."

She groaned and sat up, taking their son from Romeo as he passed him over with a fresh kiss on the top of his baby-scented head. "Sleep, Romeo. I'll be right back."

Indi rocked and whispered to her baby as she carried him out to the lounge, pulling a thin lounge blanket out from a cupboard to cover them in. Sighing as she looked at the 5:30am time as the early morning feed began, she hadn't been out there for long before she and Bailey weren't alone once again.

"Hey, just grabbing a drink. Thought I could hear him though" Dex said to his older sister as he walked into the room, heading straight for the sink.

"Sorry. Did he wake you before too?" Indi asked, considering the fact that her brother's and father's rooms were lucky enough to share walls with the small families own.

"Nah, was he crying before? Must've slept through" Dex replied in between mouthfuls as he leant against the bench, facing the general direction of his sister and nephew that was hard to distinguish in the pitch black room. "Lucky you. Yeah, Romeo and I have been up and down all night to him. So far, I think that this is wake up number 4."

"Ouch. So will I see you guys in the morning or will you and Romeo be replaced with your zombie clones?"

She shrugged with a yawn, stroking her son's head in the dark as he drank. "Don't know. Ask Bailey that one."

Dex gave an attempt at a snickering laugh, before placing the cup in the sink and starting to walk off back in the path that he had come from minutes earlier. "Well night. Hopefully he won't keep you up much longer."

"Thanks Dex – you and me both! Goodnight."

The dark haired man guy out of the room, leaving Indi and Bailey alone together once again, for close to another hour before the then sleeping baby was ready to be taken back to his new bed in his new home. The tot slept happily and undisrupted, as did the other occupants of the room until he awoke at 7:30 having decided that he had had enough of the sleeping game.

Within his first three cries, both parents were up and awake. As Indi fussed over Bailey, Romeo attempted to calculate the measly hours of sleep that their little boy had allowed them, before speaking overtop his cries. "I know that babies are meant to wake up during the night and wake up early and all, but I thought that they were meant to sleep a lot too..."

"Babies have no rhyme or reason, Romeo" Indi murmured as she focused on rocking and settling her baby that was rested vertically against the crick of her neck and shoulder.

The couple hovered in front of the cot before Bailey's cries finally softened and he settled in his mother's arms.

Indi let out a long sigh of exhaustion and relief, before shifting her arms towards her husband. "Can you take him for a minute; just make sure he stays settled down. I really need a shower to wake up."

Instantly, Romeo agreed, taking the baby and moving back to bed with him as Indi found fresh clothes, along with a towel and her shower products that had been in her hospital bag, taking the items up to the shared bathroom at the end of the hallway.

#

20 minutes later, a fresher, rejuvenated and clean, although still tired, Indi left the same room, but had her attention caught by her sister who spoke her name in a loud whisper as she passed her room. Catching Indi, Sasha quickly got up and enthusiastically rushed out to her. "I thought you were up. Where's Bailey? Can I have a quick cuddle before I go to school?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. He might get a bit grumpy if he's getting hungry again though" Indi replied, stopping to talk to her sister, before the two continued walking down the short hallway to second room from the front.

Looking past the open door and into the room, the girls saw the unexpectedly beautiful, yet funny scene. Romeo was sprawled out on his side of the bed, fast asleep with an arm draped across Indi's side of it too. Bailey, wide-awake gazed around the room without focus as he wormed on the spot, kicking his little legs spasmodically where he was in encased in Romeo's arm cocoon that wrapped around his form and held him protectively between Romeo's own arm and side.

"Romeo looks like a scarecrow! I'm guessing that someone wore their dad out..." Sasha said, stifling a laughing in addition to her amused smile, while Indi beamed seeing her two boys together.

"Let's leave them be for now, Sash."

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter - you're all amazing and I appreciate you all! I'm so glad that you are all enjoying the story! The drama's at a bit of a plateau for the moment and I'm attempting to focus on some of the realistic problems and issues with having a baby, especially a first child, along with the issues raised by his prematurity. BUT, things are going to be moving forward, slowly but surely, and the drama will go up and down. However, I do have at least another 3 MASSIVE storyline shocks up my sleeve that are still to come! ;) <strong>

**Please let me know of what you thought of this chapter for the time-being thrugh!**

**Next chapter:**

**# An exhausted Romeo and Indi struggle to get Bailey into a routine at home.**

**# Romeo and Indi go out on their first family outing with Bailey.**

**# Casey and Sasha have a very public lover's tiff.**


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25 - **

A week after Romeo and Indi had brought Bailey home, they were still very much struggling with getting their little boy into a routine. To make matters worse, in addition to their struggled attempts, the fact that they were beyond exhausted never helped and consequently the habit of Romeo and/or Indi succumbing to Bailey was being set.

However, in spite of their tiredness, getting Bailey to sleep wasn't the problem anymore. Over the last few days Romeo and Indi had discovered the secret formula of getting him asleep quicker; by feeding and rocking him at the same time, before holding him near their chest and rubbing his tummy until he fell asleep which generally worked on average within around 15 minutes. Instead, the difficulty that they were having with regards to enforcing a routine was that of _keeping_ Bailey asleep.

The little boy was proving himself to be quite a cat-nap sort of sleeper, who would take lots of short sleeps, but would never sleep for very long at a time. However, despite being exhausted due to the frequent disruptions, night and day, the couple couldn't complain too much from the rude awakenings. Although he would give a few cries, loud enough to let his parents know that he was awake, he wasn't a baby to cry loudly unless completely necessary and when he was desperately wanting something. These awakening noises generally just meant a few grizzling cries before quietening and lying wide awake until he was tended to. Luckily, Bailey was naturally placid like that and after he made sure that it was known that he was awake, you wouldn't hear a peep out of him, although he would never simply fall back to sleep.

Since bringing Bailey home Romeo had left the house to head into the Bay every now and then for one reason or another but Indi and Bailey had proven to be homebodies and had stayed at home for the entire week, despite having a few visits from a few like Marilyn, Roo and Bianca.

However by now, Indi was beginning to go stir crazy from the familiar environment and lack of stimulation in her life. As a solution, Sid suggested that the family go out to breakfast in the Bay, which was expanded on by Romeo's suggestion to make the most of the trip into town and spend time down on the beach together and take Bailey there for the first time.

#

The morning of the planned breakfast outing, Indi stayed awake after Bailey's early morning wakeup at 5:30AM that normally would have given them both another chance to catch a few more hours of sleep. However, today the new mum was pacing back and forth around the house, trying to do a mental inventory of all her son's essential items, trying to narrow it down and work out what would be needed for the short trip into Summer Bay.

For Romeo, feeling an empty space next to him in their bed was an increasingly familiar sensation since Bailey had been brought home. However, sitting up and seeing his son fast asleep in his cot, Romeo got up and located Indi who was busily preparing the baby bag in the kitchen.

"What _are_ you doing? Sleep while he's sleeping, Indi" Romeo stated, rubbing his evidently tired and sleep-deprived eyes as he leant against the door frame for the vertical support that was needed at this early hour.

"I'm getting everything ready for when we go into town. I don't want to forget anything..." she replied nervously. Indi's visible stress only shone through her look of sleep deprivation that was becoming increasingly usual for the young adult.

Romeo let out a sigh that was partnered as a two-for-one with a yawn, before walking over to his wife, taking her smaller hands in his as he took the bibs she was holding out of her hands, placing them on the table before gently and slowly tugging her in the direction of their room with a whisper. "Sleep. That's a command. What does he need? Food? That's covered. We can put the pram in the car before we go and use that as shade for him. He's got a thousand dummies and a million nappies around the place and in the baby bag. And if we've forgotten anything other than that, we can pick it up in town. Chill out and come back to bed."

Indi succumbed to Romeo's suggestion that was all too tempting given her average hours of sleep -that were currently in demerit- since the birth of their son and his impact on their warped sleeping pattern.

#

Several hours later, the tribe of Walker's made their way into Summer Bay for the group breakfast. Sasha had of course invited Casey and in order to use a table with sufficient seats, the seven of them – Romeo, Indi, Sid, Dex, Sasha, Casey and of course the youngest and newest addition to the family were sitting outside at one of the largest tables on the Pier that overlooked the calmer side of the Bay's water.

Romeo, who was the least exposed to the sun, was sitting under the shade and holding Bailey, patting a rhythm on his underside almost as an increasingly subconscious settling action for the baby. Next to him, Indi was eating her own breakfast, as quickly as she could and occasionally having to cut Romeo's food when he would struggle between the cutlery that he controlled with one hand while his other arm was occupied by his son. At the end of the table and on the other side of Romeo, Sid maintained a subtle but focused eye on his youngest daughter as she more or less inched onto her River Boy boyfriend's lap, whom Sid was still more than wary about. The dark-haired couple were sitting across the table from the blonde married couple and the younger two were providing the majority of the conversation, along with Dex.

Juggling their son and trying to work out a good system for their first public outing together as a recently expanded family, Romeo and Indi were about to swap seats to give Romeo a few minutes of easy eating time and Indi prepared herself to eat with difficulty as she took Bailey and moved to the shadier seat.

With the quiet commotion of the switching seats as they worked out how was the best way to handle eating breakfast, hold the baby and deal with keeping his sensitive skin away from the harsh sun, Romeo and Indi were beginning to dispute each other's actions and new movements argumentatively until Sid interrupted the pair, holding his arms out to Romeo, Sid, the proud new grandfather gestured to take Bailey as a solution to the sleep-deprived couple's arguments.

"Here, pass him here. I'll take him inside, out of the sun, and let you two eat without interruptions."

Romeo eagerly passed the baby over to his father-in-law, and after greeting the young infant with a kiss on his little head, before rocking him within his arms, Sid took him inside to the interior of the Pier Diner as a favour for the young parents who could do without interruptions for eating their meals.

"So how's it going with the little guy at home now?" Casey asked in-between his last conversation with Sasha that had just ended, to the couple sitting across from him, who were eating quickly while they had the small window of opportunity to do so uninterrupted.

"Exhausting" was Romeo's quick response; the first word that came to his head. "He's a good kid, but he just wakes up _all_ the time!" Indi on the other hand felt too tired to string a sentence together.

The Braxton chuckled under his own breath. "Exhausting? Sounds like his aunty..."

It didn't take Sasha long to elbow her boyfriend sharply in his side, turning his laughing into a cry of pain. "MAN SASH! I was just kidding!"

"Didn't you hear Romeo say that Bailey's _good_ too? That must be the likeness that you're referring about to me" Sasha said, replying smugly, with no hint of an apology. "He must take after you a lot too anyway... He doesn't listen and he's loud, just like you."

Casey looked amused, but startled as both he and Sasha's voices were on the increase in volume. "Um, excuse me Sash, but _how_ would he take after me?! I'm not related to Romeo _or_ Indi."

"I think that you're just corrupting my nephew with your bad habits. Next thing we know, he'll be so focused on hating Kyle too that he won't listen to what anyone else has to say, like you!"

"I'm not focused on Kyle! And I listen!" Casey protested in defence of himself. Standing up for himself was an action that he had gained a lot of practice with – especially around his girlfriend.

"Ha ha, totally. What was I talking about before this then?" Sasha quizzed as a test for her boyfriend – the current subject of her disliking.

"Uh. You were going through your homework. That's right, you have a lot to do for a Bio test, but your Geography teacher's given you barely anything!" Casey smiled, increasing in confidence at his answers to the test that he had not realized his girlfriend was going to spring on him. Due to his own excitement and pride, Casey hand hovered in the air, waiting for a high-five from Sasha, which he never received as she crossed her arms in front of her body tightly.

"It was _Maths_ that I have a lot to do for the test! And my _Bio_ teacher's the one that hasn't given me much… See you _weren't_ listening!"

Casey scoffed, oblivious to the fact that both he and Sasha's voices were growing louder and louder as the argument escalated, not just providing Romeo, Indi and Dex entertainment from the couple's typically petty argument. Instead, their audience had slowly grown; catching occupants of another table's interest after every retaliation back to each other and now the majority sitting out on the Diner's outdoor decking were listening in.

"Come on Sash… I was close enough!"

"Casey! You're so obsessed with him that if he wasn't your brother, I would suggest that you're in love with the guy!"

A few sniggers from nearby tables were heard by the duo after Sasha's latest response marked the first time that the couple were alerted to the amount of people that they had obliviously been keeping entertained. Sasha, never one to shy away from a crowd, used it to her advantage and made one final stab at claiming the title of winning the argument before walking off.

"Bye Case. Go home to your brother who you're so clearly engrossed in. I'm going to spend my time with the boy I _really_ love."

With a final curtsey to her small audience, Sasha didn't look back to see Casey's annoyance before walking inside to look for her father and more importantly, her nephew, who had left in the same direction just minutes before she had.

Wiping his mouth with a serviette, Romeo gritted his teeth as he looked up to Casey who was sitting across from him. "Ouch mate. How's your ego now?"

"What ego?"

Romeo smiled before Dex interrupted. "Come on man, you should no better than to fight with my sister… AROUND OTHER PEOPLE OF ALL THINGS!"

"Yeah, I know. Hey, I might head off. When she's calmed down a bit, can you get her to give me a call? After she's calmed down to ear bleeding stage, preferably."

"Alright…" Romeo laughed under his breath, knowing all too well how drastic his sister-in-law's moods could get. "Bye Case."

The Braxton waved with a casually brief flick of a hand, evidently not fussed over the tedious fight he and his girlfriend had been involved in earlier, before Casey walked away.

#

Later that day, after Dex and Sid had relocated to the hospital for work, Romeo and Indi left to take Bailey for a walk near the beach with Sasha who had tagged along for two reasons. Firstly, her attachment to the baby was about as strong as a magnetic force pulling them together or as if they were glued to each other and secondly, she wanted a lift home with her sister's family instead of having to catch the bus back to the farm.

Despite Sasha's nagging to hold Bailey, the youngest Smith was contently being pampered in the pram that his father was pushing along the grass on the top of the level mound that overlooked the beach with both parents taking turns every few minutes to ensure the sun wasn't in his eyes, the wind wasn't getting too cold for him or his sensitive newborn skin wasn't exposed to too much of the harsh sunlight.

"You know if aunty Sash was holding him, you wouldn't have to worry about him getting too cold…" Sasha not so subtly suggested for the umpteenth time since the walk had began, after Indi had told Romeo to stop to allow her to check Bailey's blankets again.

"You can have a cuddle when we get home Sash" Romeo responded before Indi had the chance to reply to her sister first, which undoubtedly would have led to a yell from her frustration at Sasha, partnered with her tiredness. Indi especially had not been coping well with the broken sleep, early mornings and general sleep deprivation, nowhere near as well as her husband had, considering the surfer was fairly used to waking up with the sun.

"But I need a man in my life!" Sasha dramatically cried, amusing her brother-in-law who was enjoying her tangent far more than her sister was. "First Casey, now Bailey? I'm destined for a man-less life of solitude."

Laughing moderately, Romeo pointed up ahead to Alf who was carrying something out of the Surf Club. "Looks like your prayers have been answered Sash. Sasha Bezmel, meet Alf Stewart. He's single."

"Mr STEWARTTTT!" Sasha yelped as she galloped ahead in Alf's direction, arms opened out wide with the universal sign for a hug.

"Strewth! Keep her on a leash, would you?!" Alf grumpily crowed, lecturing the couple that were trailing behind the older man and teenager.

Romeo was unable to hide his smirk, waving a hand in Alf's direction to acknowledge his request, while even Indi couldn't keep her cross mood at her sister's latest daring move. "Sorry Alf…"

Sasha sulked, walking back over to the blonde couple as Alf walked off in the other direction as he muttered something to himself.

"Even _he_ doesn't want me… I'm going to die alone... Alone, hating Casey Braxton, did you know that?"

"You hate Casey? I don't know if I caught that part the first fifty times you told us today."

Sasha rolled her eyes at her older sister before continuing on her hate-Casey tangent. "Seriously though, this has made me realize how much I hate the guy. He's awful! I mean all of my little pet peeves with him… He never manages to get _all_ the sand out of his hair, he can't eat and have a conversation at the same time, it's either talking with a mouthful or no talking at all and well, he's a Braxton. He's a pig! The whole-lotta them are!" Sasha lent down to the pram that was a difficult task considering it was still moving along the grass and poked her head into Bailey's pram. "Seriously Bay, don't get involved with Braxton's, 'kay? Mind you… Heath's taken, we all know that Brax _should_ be taken, Casey is unmentionable right now and Kyle doesn't really seem like your type, Bailes. Oh! Unless Darcy becomes a little cougar..._then_ you might have to watch out…"

Romeo and Indi were sharing humoured looks with each other as they struggled not to lose it laughing at the indignantly serious teenager.

"Sounds like the chances-are that Bailey won't have a problem, Sash…" Indi smirked as Sasha moved away from the pram and resumed walking along with the adults.

"Good. Seriously, I don't know why or what I was thinking getting involved with Casey. Must have been young and stupid. At least I've learnt my lesson now…"

#

Later that day, the trio had returned home and after getting her promised cuddle with Bailey before the baby was put down for an undoubtedly short sleep, Sasha went outside to do her homework while Indi made a start on cooking dinner for the family and Romeo made some online payments. Dex and Sid were set to return home at any tick of the clock.

"Babe, can you go outside and ask Sash how well she wants her meat cooked. She's fussy" Indi asked from where she was attentively watching the browning steaks in the frying pan.

Wordlessly, Romeo complied and as he walked outside, he had mistaken Sasha's quietness for thinking that she had been getting on with her homework, being equally as surprised that he hadn't heard the rumble of the black car arriving as he was by seeing the intimate sight of Casey and Sasha sitting outside happily kissing in a cuddled embrace.

If the creak of the noisy door hadn't stopped the couple kissing then Romeo doubted that a typical half-cough of interruption would either. Instead of asking the question that his wife had asked him to, Romeo walked straight back inside with an entertained smile as he walked over to Indi in the kitchen. "I don't think Sash cares how here meat is cooked right now…"

"Casey's here, isn't he?" Indi guessed straight off and unbeknownst to her, correctly.

Romeo nodded. "Yeah. They're all over each other" he replied as Indi let out a single, uncontrollable laugh.

"Oh goodness. It's like if they don't annoy each other _enough_, then they're just dynamite and blow up in each other's faces, but when they annoy each other _too much_, that's when the fireworks come!"

"Remind you of anyone?" Romeo smirked as he leant against the bench nearest to Indi, where he received a brief kiss before she continued paying attention to the food she was cooking. "No. Not at all."

* * *

><p><strong>Guys! I'm alive and this story hasn't been abandoned... That's if anyone's still reading itcares about it... I hope so, but after the hiatus that I've had I'm seriously doubting it. Sorry about that by the way :( Just been very, very busy! I've had the majority of this chapter written forever, but watching Romeo's final scenes this week and realizing how much I'm going to miss my favourite character and couple has given me the push that I needed to finish it and get back onto FanFiction! What did you think about Romeo's departure anyway? I'm just very annoyed that he never told Indi – they would have shouldered it together and in that instance, I think him dying would have been better than him leaving. It's brought so much acting-goodness out of Luke, Samara and Robert though! But, I tell you, if Indi and Chris get together, heads will roll...**

**Next Chapter (the one all of those Casey/Indi friendship fans are waiting for!):**

**# Exhaustion leads to Indi having a public meltdown, before Casey comes to her aid. **

**# Indi doubts her skills after the difficulty she had looking after Bailey alone.**


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26 – **

Indi was feeling on top of the world. Despite the tiredness that she was almost growing accustomed to expecting to feel throughout the day, everything was running smoothly. She'd initially been apprehensive about how she would be able to manage Bailey alone while Romeo was out working and with none of her other family members at home as backup, but so far she had proved to herself that she could do it on her own.

Her baby was fed, changed, clean and sleeping contentedly. She was right on target and felt like she was doing it better than she had managed to while Romeo had been home as a backup.

Currently, she was now collecting her purse, phone, bag, Bailey's baby bag and any other essentials that she had forgotten in preparation for an outing to the Yabbie Creek supermarket, as she had put her hand up and offered to get back into the Walker house routine and do the family shopping for the first time since Bailey had been born.

Gently shifting the sleeping baby was Indi's last essential that she had taken out to the car before leaving the house and enjoying the silent un-interrupted drive until Bailey woke up as the mother and son arrived at the shopping centre, right on cue. Indi had been anticipating and planning her days around her baby's slowly-forming sleeping patterns and knew that Bailey would have woken up prematurely just to be grumpy until he slept again if he hadn't had his full morning sleep. However, taking the baby boy with her into the shopping centre and nesting him into a trolley-baby carrier (that she admittedly cleaned first) Indi was confident that he would happily sit there in a dozy silence like he normally would at home, leaving her to do the shopping un-interrupted.

Indi's plan was successful for the first five minutes of her shopping trip until the first clucky stranger had cooed at her child.

"What a beautiful little boy you have, so small" the stranger told Indi with a smile who she was standing next to by the basil in the fresh food section. The woman cooing down at Indi's content baby appeared to be in her sixties -stereotypical grandmother age.

"Thanks" Indi smiled proudly, smiling a little more as she looked down to her baby and the subject of the compliment, Indi lapping up the newfound attention.

Within a few minutes after the initial comment, Indi had already received a few more compliments from strangers about the adorable baby with her and hadn't minded the frequent interruptions until Bailey had started to unsettle from the occasional gentle strokes across his head or tickle on his belly. When he had started to occasionally grizzle for a few second before Indi managed to settle him, she was just starting to realize that she needed to hurry up and get out of the shops before Bailey's grumbles flared into a full-blown screaming session. They'd already been at the shopping centre for just over half an hour and Indi freaked upon discovering that over the entire duration of time she'd spent there, she had only managed to fill the trolley with a dozen items between comparing prices, finding the right product and listening to strangers talk about her son.

"Damn, damn, damn…" Indi muttered under her breath, hurrying around the fresh fruit and vegetable section with the list of foods that needed to be replenished, only just managing to slash every fresh food item off the shopping list before Bailey's cries intensified.

Indi took a minute to try and silence his tears as she plucked her baby out of the newborn carrier in the trolley, rocking him in a rhythm which usually proved to be a soothing action for the restless baby, regardless of why he was crying. Within a short period of time, Indi had managed to reduce his crying, to tears, to a mere grizzle before settling her son completely and inserting the dummy in his mouth to keep him settled for as long as possible, allowing her, in turn, to get as much shopping as possible done.

However, having realized how sacred the peace and quiet was in a seemingly normal task, Indi rushed through to the next aisle, collecting another dozen items in half the time before Bailey interrupted her again, having spat out his dummy and immediately accelerating to an unhappy cry – complete with a scrunched up face and squirming... A cry, that Indi had learnt over the past three weeks, was a lot harder to settle.

Again, she paused her focus on shopping and scooped her child up into her arms.

"Oh, poor bubba, that sounds like an unhappy cry" another stranger that passed Indi by in the aisle commented as she sympathetically gazed over to the mother and son.

This kind of attention _now_, Indi learnt, was nowhere near as enjoyable as the _'he's insert-compliment-here'_ comments by fawning or clucky female fellow-shoppers. She didn't reply to the stranger, who continued ahead, unfazed, picking up a packet of brown sugar further along the aisle.

"Please, Bay... Come on" Indi pleaded to her baby that she unsuccessfully tried to rock and pat, trying to look for signs as to his distress. He wouldn't be hungry or tired and he didn't have a dirty nappy so after eliminating the three most likely causes, Indi struggled to understand _why_ her normally placid son was so upset.

As Bailey became more worked up, so did Indi. Questioning whether, _'perhaps she had forgotten to feed him'_, or '_what if he wasn't actually asleep earlier'_, an increasingly desperate Indi looked around the environment she was in, wondering if there was something particular in the shops that was triggering Bailey's upset. _'Is it the lights? Are they too bright? Is the air conditioner on? Is the air too stuffy or warm? Doesn't he like the smell of aluminium cans_?' were all debated within Indi's mind before one more comment from a stranger pushed her over the edge...

"Oh she's really upset, isn't she?" yet another passer-by said to Indi, a comment that made the new mum see red in more ways than one.

"SHE?! Are you blind or colour-blind?! Can't you _see _that I can _see_ HE'S upset and I'm trying to do something about that?! And what-_don't_-you-understand-about-BLUE?!"

The poor woman didn't know what had hit her in the form of the stressed new mother as she slunk away in the opposite direction after Indi's firm blow out that marked her reaching the end of her tether from the overwhelming new experience, the pressure and her annoyance.

Leaning against the tall, metal shelves for support that held hundreds of stacked up baked beans cans, Indi searched for her mobile phone with the hand that was free from holding Bailey. Her first port of call and contact that she looked for was Romeo name, touching his number with a simple tap as she held the phone up to her ear while rocking Bailey as she waited.

No answer.

Muttering a harsh name for her husband under her breath, Indi ended the call without leaving a message. Option number two would have been Sid, but Indi remembered the fact that he had been talking about a big procedure he would be involved in for hours throughout the day. Therefore, the next phone call went out to her eagerly ready-to-help babysitter.

Again, Indi's call was immediately led to another message bank as she remembered the 'phone charger war' that resulted in a grumpy Sasha leaving the house without a charged phone that morning.

She was running out of options to call. Dex would have just gone into a lecture, so he was another no-go like her dad, which just left... Casey! Indi mentally kicked herself for not putting two and two together earlier and working out that her sister had gone out with her boyfriend. It was one of her last chances with trying someone that she felt comfortable with attempting to call.

She scrolled through again to the opposite end of her phone contacts from where she had in the S's, searching upwards till she saw Casey Braxton. Within a second of sighting the name, she was calling it before she heard the blissful sound of what she needed to hear more than ever right now. "Hi Indi."

"Is Sasha with you?" was Indi's first question, not partnered with any polite greetings due to her desperation for help.

"Yeah. Yeah she's right here. Is everything okay?"

Indi didn't know how to reply. She was at the end of her tether with her baby still relentlessly crying and she was too far into the shopping to stop, but not far enough to make herself feel any better with seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. However, she wasn't in the mood to unravel with a sob story to a River Boy. "Can you just put Sash on please Casey?"

"Yeah sure" were his final two words before the next thing Indi barely heard over her child's cries was the muffling near the speaker, until she heard her sister's relieving voice.

"Indi? Are you alright? Is that Bailey crying? Is he okay?" Sasha said before Indi had a chance to speak.

"Where are you?"

"I'm at Casey's, why? What's wrong?"

Indi was getting pretty fed up with Sasha's questions that normally wouldn't bother her, but in the current instance where her world felt like it was caving in, Indi couldn't handle it. "I need your help. I can't do this."

#

Twenty long minutes crawled by for an overwhelmed Indi. At least she had managed to settle Bailey for a short period of time before the baby burst into tears again just seconds before Sasha, followed shortly behind by Casey, made their way hurriedly up the aisle and towards the distressed new mother.

"Oh, Indi…" Sasha sympathetically sighed as she saw the state that her sister was in, instantly being able to see how overwhelmed she was. Giving her a quick hug, Sasha took the baby from Indi's arms and tried rocking her nephew who instantly responded to Sasha's calmer demeanour and fresh arms, having been able to sense the distress of his mother while she was rocking him under all sorts of pressure. "We'll settle this little guy down and let you get a clearer head again, then Case and I will help you with getting everything, okay?"

Indi nodded as she found her water bottle in her handbag, taking a few sips as she watched her sister handle her baby that she hadn't been able to. She was more than impressed with how Sasha had taken control of the situation, but as she calmed herself down, Indi experienced difficulty with pushing away the thoughts of why hadn't _she_ been able to do so and why _she_ hadn't been able to calm down Bailey.

#

A few minutes passed before the small group decided to press on with the outing, Sasha nursing Bailey who she had managed to settle amazingly, almost to the extent of him beginning to doze off again, while Indi pushed the shopping trolley as she had been before her two helpers came to her aid and Casey trailed behind the girls, feeling about as equally useful as chopped liver for most of the time.

They were making their way through the confectionary aisle now as Casey picked up yet another sweet product from the shelf, holding it in front of Sasha for his girlfriend's denied approval, for the hundredth time since setting foot in aisle 7. Holding her nephew with one arm, Sasha grabbed the brightly coloured packet that the Braxton was holding and didn't hesitate in throwing it back onto the space where Casey had taken it from.

"So what's next on the list?" Sasha asked to change the subject and distract Casey from begging for yet another sweet treat as they progressed down the aisle as quickly as Sasha could walk.

"I've run out of Bailey's baby lotion" Indi started to say as she scanned the aisles and double checked her shopping list. "... But it doesn't look like they have the brand that I use for him here."

"I know the one you mean. Would the chemist in the complex here have it?" Sasha questioned as she checked the shelves with her sister who replied to her. "Yeah; that's where I got it from in the first place, but I just thought I would check and see if they had it here."

Sasha momentarily looked down with a smile at Bailey who was now fast asleep in her arms, before her sight returned to Indi. "Do you want me to quickly run out and get the baby cream now? I've been meaning to get more of the prescription Strepsils anyway so I can get the prescription filled now while we're here. Besides, only one of us really needs to be here helping you at the one time anyway."

"Are you sure?" Indi questioned nervously, looking over to the tall guy in her own and her sister's company, preferring to receive help from Sasha rather than Casey.

"Yeah, yeah. I won't be long. Just grab the cream, wait for the prescription script in and rush back over here." Before Indi could object to her sister's suggestion, Sasha was already trying to pass Indi's baby over to Casey, both Sasha's sister and boyfriend looking as worried as each other about the situation they were being pushed into.

Casey took a step back in the aisle to avoid having to take Bailey, insisting that: "he'll cry if I hold him!", while at the same time Indi was pleading for Sasha to stay with her. "Sash, I need your help. _You_ know the stuff we buy at home."

"He's fast asleep, Case, and he spends so much time with us that he probably knows the brands as well as I do, Indi" Sasha debated to her boyfriend and sister consecutively, eventually managing to pass the baby to Casey who despite his initial attempts, stopped trying to fight holding the baby before she gave them a wave and walked off.

"So... I guess that it's you and me, Indi" Casey said obviously in the awkward situation.

"No. It's you, me and _Bailey_..."

#

Initially, being pushed to socialize and work together had been awkward for Indi and Casey, but as each item was ticked off the list and as every aisle was explored, they slowly began to warm up to each other in their conversations.

It had been the _thought_ of spending time with Casey, due to the Braxton/River Boy stigma that Indi always hated, but during the execution of it, she had always found that he was a reasonable and pleasant enough, even _decent,_ guy.

Currently, they were having a laugh about irritating habits of their respective partners, a conversation that had been triggered by Indi having to buy the more expensive laundry powder that wouldn't fade colours just in case Romeo did the washing. Casey was nursing Bailey who was still fast asleep since Sasha had calmed him down, while Indi did the majority of the shopping just steps in front of the boys. However, the level of comfort for the two dropped to a new level of awkward when they were interrupted by another passerby who resumed the trend of fawning over Indi's son.

"Oh wow, what a tiny baby... he's just adorable!"

The blonde in Casey's acquaintance could see where the comment was leading and as Casey replied, Indi was more than confident that he on the other hand could _not_. "Isn't he just?" The Braxton viewed Bailey as his girlfriend did and thought of him just like a nephew, how he thought of Rocco, but that is not how his doting gaze of the baby translated to the stranger.

The older woman squinted her eyes a little more as she looked at Bailey before her examining gaze was shared between looking back and forth at Indi and Casey. "So who does this little one look like? Definitely his mum, I think."

"Oh no, no! We- we're just-, we're just friends-not together, uh-" Casey struggled to explain as each sentence of an attempted explanation simply wound into the one that followed it.

Indi didn't know what to laugh at first. Option one was Casey's laughable efforts to try and squirm his way out of the mess that she had seen him winding himself in, or over the fact that one of the rare times that she was told that Bailey looked like _her_ was when the other alternative of his appearance, Bailey's adult doppelganger and father, wasn't around. She sympathized for the poor woman who was probably off to book herself in for an Optometrist appointment after leaving the duo and the supermarket.

"Just friends?" the woman, and total stranger repeated as she stuck up her nose with a rude "Hmph" before walking off in the other direction, leaving Indi clasping her amused mouth to soundproof any laughter while Casey just looked to the woman, to Bailey and back to the woman, all with a mouth that hung open like a stunned mullet.

As soon as Casey came to from the embarrassment, the duo kept a facade to cover the awkward amusement of the situation they had found themselves in. Casey's crimson-tinted cheeks had just returned to normal after more teasing from Indi about the fact that "_River Boys blush?!"_ before it was Indi who made the non-couple pair walk right into their next uncomfortable scenario.

"So _Romeo..._" Indi mocked, with both herself and Casey knowing she was _not_ in fact talking to her absent husband. "Bailey's quite content there with his _dad_, isn't he?"

"Shut up Indi... " Casey laughed before the umpteenth observer doted over the newborn in the brunette guys muscley arms, reaching out to touch Bailey's socked foot.

Noticing the actions of the second strange woman who had approached him, Casey braced himself... _Too_ thoroughly so as he was about to learn... "Oh what a beautiful little boy!" Next came the woman's glance up from Casey's arms to Casey himself, which he was already preparing himself for so as to avoid yet another misunderstanding.

"Steady up. Just to clarify, I'm **not**_ his _dad. _He's_ working, I'm _her_ sister's_ boyfriend_" Casey said quickly, managing to gesture from Bailey to Indi and into the distance twice, which signified the absent Romeo and Sasha, during his brief explanation that left Indi equally as amused as his first attempt.

"Oh right" the woman nodded, proving herself to be not only younger, but also more understanding than the first stranger who had stopped the three. As the woman pleasantly kept on her way, Indi nudged Casey. "Why stop there, Braxton? I'm sure you had time to tell her your whole life story while you were at it..."

As Indi and Casey's banter and growing understanding of each other that had sprung from a bad situation continued, the new friends were only interrupted by Sasha who reappeared from her mission to the Chemist, passing Indi a bottle of the cream for Bailey before reaching her boyfriend and instantly gesturing to be passed Bailey back.

"Gimme my man, Case. I need cuddles" were Sasha's first words after re-joining her sister, boyfriend and nephew. After taking slight offence, Casey handed her Bailey back.

"You haven't asked us what fun we got up to while you were gone, Sash" Indi prodded her sister as she resumed shopping, with her son being taken care of by the voluntary babysitters.

Sasha looked dubiously between the two adults that she had left alone, just twenty minutes earlier. "Do I _want_ to know?"

"Of course you do, Sasha, of course you do... Casey's been dying to tell you all about it!"

#

Indi's completion of being able to get the shopping done was put to a stand still for another 5 minutes after Casey told his girlfriend the story of the assumed misunderstanding that Casey and Indi were Bailey's parents. Sasha losing it had been the polar opposite of how Indi had reacted while she had been overwhelmed and alone with Bailey. Instead, Sasha was in stitches for so long that she couldn't even contain her own laughter and amusement, repeating over and over again her desire to see the scene unfold and her wishes that she had been there to see it.

However once the shopping was finally done and dusted and after thanking her saviours, Casey and Sasha, the couple parted ways with Indi and Bailey to go out on a date to the movies together, having ensured that Indi would be able to manage alright on her own until one of the other boys would return home.

After arriving home and unpacking the shopping, an emotionally, physically and mentally exhausted and drained Indi retired to her bedroom with Bailey. Creating a pillow border to ensure that her son kicking his legs did not move him too far and kept him safe in the middle of the bed, Indi laid down next to his fort to doze on and off in sleep until she was awakened properly when Romeo got home only half an hour after she had...

Walking into the room with a heavy sigh from the long day, Romeo dropped his belongings from his workday in the corner of the room, until his mood was brightened upon seeing the unexpected sight of his dozing wife and content son on the bed together.

Quietly, he took his shoes off before making his way over to join the duo, Romeo scooped Bailey up in his arms for a cuddle that he had been craving all day. Being careful not to touch or disrupt Indi as he sat down on his side of the bed next to her, Romeo's efforts proved to be unnecessary after Indi woke up from her light sleep with a jolt from the slight rustled movement of the bed.

"Hey" Indi mumbled groggily as she begrudgingly pushed herself up to an upright vertical position before settling again on her husband's shoulder who was preoccupied with rocking and showering the son they shared with attention. "How long have you been home?"

"All of about one minute" Romeo replied, briefly tearing his eyes away from Bailey to turn and kiss the top of Indi's messy bed-head locks. "How was your day?"

Indi groaned just from the reminder of how badly her day had started out, which had proved to override the memories of the humour that she had experienced by the end of her shopping trip. "Well, long story short, our son has taken the stereotypical 'grumpy guy' thing upon himself when taken out shopping; I vow I am never, ever taking Bailey shopping alone again until he reaches an age that he can be bribed at; and apparently Casey could pass as being his father."

"Wait, what?" Romeo questioned with a laugh as the couple settled into their positions on the bed with Romeo holding Bailey in one arm, sliding his other around Indi who further nestled into her husband's body comfortably, both ready for Indi to tell the story of her reasonably eventful, hectic and amusing day...

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you so much to everyone who has sticked with reading and following this story and especially a HUGE thank you to everyone that reviewed the last chapter. Means so much to me, even despite how long it has taken to update! <strong>

**Now I know that several people have been looking forward to this chapter and the increase in Casey and Indi's friendship, so I really, really hope that you weren't disappointed by it. I had fun writing all of that, so I hope it's equally as enjoyable to read. Besides this chapter is really massive so I hope that that acts a slight consolation! **

**Next Chapter:**

**# Indi confides in Sasha about an insecurity of hers.**

**# Sid, Dex and Sasha have a disastrous evening with babysitting Bailey for Romeo and Indi.**


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27:**

Evening was setting in for the shared Walker-Smith household. Sasha was reclined on the three-seater lounge, taking up two of the three intended spaces, whilst revising her biology notes and papers for an upcoming exam.

Looking up as her sister walked into the room, letting out a sigh, Sasha only maintained her glance of her sister slightly longer than normal while she tried to understand why Indi looked the way she did.

"What's up?" the younger sister asked as the eldest child who collapsed onto the remaining spot on the lounge with an unusual heaviness.

It was hard not to notice the toll that sleep deprivation was having on not only her sister, but also her sister's husband from their newborn baby. However, Bailey had been getting better at sleeping longer throughout the night and Romeo and Indi were improving at timing his sleeps and working their lives around that to get him into the best sleeping pattern possible. This was why Indi's drowsiness, without the formerly dark coloured bags under her eyes, was so unusual today especially.

"Honestly I dunno, Sash. Just one of those days, you know" Indi replied, nestling her head into the back of the chair she was sitting on.

Sasha nodded, but didn't stop her analysis of her sister. "Alright. Anything that I can do to help?"

"Nah" Indi started to say with a headshake to decline Sasha's caring offer. "It's just that-" she started to expand on, however as soon as she began to speak again the noisy front door opened and both girls quickly adjusted their position to see who had arrived home first out of the three boys.

"Hey girls" Romeo said as he peered into the living area within steps of entering the house. "Where's Bay?" was the blonds first question as he already made the successful initiative to begin searching for his son, consequently not seeing his wife's finger pointing in their bedroom which he had already moved to check.

Walking into the bedroom, Romeo's heart melted as he saw the sight that he had been longing for all day since he had left the family home earlier that morning.

The case of seeing something that you like and henceforth wanting to touch it was no different for the young father who's plans were interrupted with the yell of his wife from the next room over.

"Don't you dare hold or wake him, Romeo! He's been a nightmare to get to sleep today!"

Indi's disappointed husband slunk away from the cot before joining the girls again -who hadn't moved from their spots- in the living room to protest against his wife's command. "Come on Indi... I haven't seen him all day. Just a quick cuddle? I promise that I won't wake him..."

"Just like you didn't wake him up yesterday afternoon?" Indi sarcastically questioned, with a firm look that didn't budge from Romeo's pleas. "No. I had to spend another hour getting him to sleep _again_!"

"It wasn't my fault that I didn't know Dex had pulled out Guitar Hero when I took him out of the room..."

Her determined and annoyed look did not waver in the slightest for a moment of weakness. "My point exactly. Babies wake up **EASY**!"

"Indi, just a quick cuddle?! A tiny-little one?!"

"NO!"

Romeo finally accepted Indi's answer, before trailing off to the bathroom unimpressed. "Fine... I'm going to take a shower."

As soon as Romeo had left the room, Indi exhaled another pent-up sigh as she massaged her temple on the side of her head.

"Spill, Indigo. Something's up – little sister can tell" Sasha said, informing her sister matter-of-factly.

"It's not really _anything_, Sash" Indi replied hesitantly and slowly, sounding almost unconfident as she confessed her thoughts to one of her primary confidants.

Sasha wiggled around on the seat a little, pulling her legs up to her arms as she found a position that was comfortable enough for her to listen to Indi intently. "Even if it is nothing, it's obviously enough for you to feel a bit out of the norm or whatever. So regardless of whether it's nothing or not, just go for it and vent.

"I don't know…" Indi sighed, briefly glancing in the direction of the bathroom that Romeo had walked off into minutes earlier. "It's just like I'm feeling a bit detached from Romeo; a bit insecure."

"What do you mean? Like just cause you've got Bailes to look after too, or something else?"

Indi shrugged her shoulders softly, before they settled and a saddened look was concreted on her face. "Yes and no. Of course we have less time together because of Bailey, that's expected, but it's just feeling like he spends a lot more time working than usual and than before he was born. Then when he does come home, he'll spend the rest of the time when he can with Bailey."

"I thought that he seemed to be working longer, but I figured it was just my head that couldn't count his hours well."

The elder sister shook her head at her only sister. "No. He's definitely been working longer. So whatever time that he _is_ here, he just gives me a break from looking after Bailey to get on with studying or cooking or cleaning."

"But that's good for you too, isn't it? Having a bit of time off from caring for him, right? Maybe he's just doing that because he thinks that's what is best for you."

"Yeah. But I didn't think that would just end up making Romeo and I passing ships. It's like he's with Bailey or I'll be with Bailey, but there's no him and me."

Sasha nodded at her sister understandingly, without even knowing how much of an appreciated listening ear she being to Indi. "Okay… I have a suggestion, but I don't know whether you'll go for it being the Mrs-overprotective-mum that you are."

"Hey!" Indi laughed as she swiped her sister's arm in a playful manner. "Anyway, what is the suggestion, minus your comment about me?"

"Well… I was going to suggest whether you wanted to leave Bailey here –dad and Dex will be getting home soon too- and then you two could go out together, alone."

Indi tried to appear to be considering her sister's question, but really she was freaking out at the prospect of leaving her baby boy for the first time – something that her sister could read into. "Um, that sounds good and all, but Bailey's really little, you know. What if he can't settle or needs us? He's never not had either Romeo or I with him."

"I know, but there's a first time for everything. At least if you leave him for a few hours while he's younger, he's not quite at that people-distinguishing slash mum-and-dad-wanting age. He'll be fine! We all know how much he loves being with his favourite aunty… You'll be more unsettled than he will!" Sasha smiled optimistically, in an attempt to positively reassure her sister of her suggestion.

"I don't know Sash… I'll think about it and talk to Romeo – see what he thinks."

The girls didn't notice the footsteps growing closer to the room as Romeo shook water out of his hair, using his hands to increase the effectiveness of the action. "Talk to Romeo about what?"

"Sash just suggested that we go out for dinner together tonight, minus baby, while she and the others look after him. What do you think?"

The only man present in the room nodded approvingly in between his hair drying. "Sure. Sounds good."

"Really?" Indi questioned sceptically as she looked over to her husband, hoping that he was going to provide her with the easy out of declining Sasha's offer, which she wouldn't question or fight against. "You don't think he's too little?"

"Of course not. Some babies are already being put into childcare at his age. Besides, he'll be staying here, where's he familiar, with what he's familiar with, with people that are familiar to him."

Indi pouted, shooting her easy-going partner an annoyed look that he missed, the look that perceived how unimpressed she was with Sasha's offer and Romeo's reaction.

"Fine. I'll right some stuff out for you in case you run into trouble or if he's not happy" Indi replied, doing little to mask her mood in her voice, which two of the people she was closest to both missed.

#

Later that evening, the sun was just beginning to set as the Walker-Smith clan hovered around the front door. Both Romeo and Indi were dressed and made up nicely for a date at Angelo's (Romeo wanted to take her to a nicer restaurant further away from the Bay, but Indi and her stubbornness had won out in the end, wanting to be as close to Bailey as possible).

As Indi hesitantly handed her baby boy over to his beaming aunty, she pulled a list out from her handbag and handed it to her father. Sid scanned over the list his eldest daughter had written out, featuring more tedious instructions than Council guidelines would have.

"I want you, Sash and Dex to have a look over them" she informed him, pointing to the list that although Sid was holding, he was completely disregarding, after the irony of having seen the number of the hospital listed on the page after one glance. "And if _anything_ goes wrong, call me. We've both got our phones on us and they're fully charged."

"Okay" Sid replied, resisting the urge to mutter: "not that we'll need to call you…" under his breath, knowing that fighting his daughter and her current paranoia would do no good and that by the time that Indi could actually bring herself to leave, Angelo's would be already closing.

With a gentle tug on Indi's arm, Romeo managed to pull Indi one step closer to the exit with a whispered reminder: "We should get going Indi…"

"Did I already say goodbye to Bailey?" Indi questioned as she moved closer to Sasha and her son for her sixth goodbye to him, with none of the other four replying to her question, in fear of more sarcasm translating in their answer than they would have intended. "Oh well."

After kissing the top of his head, which she smoothed over with a gentle brush of her palm, Indi took another step away from the house having been physically encouraged to do so by Romeo.

"Goodbye" Sid added to encourage his daughter to leave, assisting with his son-in-law's actions.

It was a case of one step forward, two steps back, as after the couple had finally made progress by moving closer to the vehicle, when Dex played the typical younger brother card. "Did you leave us with enough formula for him? Nappies?"

The tease wasn't viewed in the light that it was intended to be by the already overwhelmed new mother, suddenly being set into a tizz of worry. "Oh no! Did I?! What else have I forgotten to check?"

From the questions Dexter posed, he received glares from the other four members of his family, aside from the baby. "Calm down Indi, I was just kidding. You already checked that we had enough of both of them."

"Alright… That would be our cue to leave" Romeo intervened hooking his arm around his wife's as he pulled her to the car before Dex, Indi's paranoia or any other distractions could stop her again. "Bye guys."

#

After the drive that felt a lot longer than what it actually was (Romeo even had to pull over and prohibit her from watching their phones expectantly awaiting a call or actually calling home), they'd finally arrived at the local destination and were settling at their cosy table with drinks and menus.

"Really Romeo, I think I should check the phones. You can do it if you like. They're probably giving him a bath by now so they might have questions or something."

It had not been her first suggestion of doing so since they'd arrived at the restaurant but instead of outright refusal, Romeo took on a different approach of quietening her.

"Okay, rules of our date tonight" he started to say confidently, catching Indi's attention from her slight confusion. Romeo took her hands in his across from her in the table. "We're Mr and Mrs Smith fast-forward one year."

"Do you mean rewind?" Indi suggested quietly, showing her compliance to letting her husband take the lead with the conversation for a few minutes.

Shaking her suggestion off (which was actually correct), Romeo continued to list his rules out. "That's beside the point. Anyway, rule one. I will let you check the phone once now and once after we've ordered dessert, but that's it for the **rest of the night**. And the calls are two minutes or less. And no re-reciting that list that you gave them! Rule two, you can't use the Bailey word. Rule three, you have to remember that tonight's about _us_. After tonight we can go back to Bay dominating our lives, but just think of it as you and me now. Do we have a deal?"

Indi thought that her husband's rules would be surprisingly hard to abide by. They had spent a lot more time together as a couple without a baby, than a couple with one, yet he had completely changed their worlds since his arrival that it was hard to remember moments and dates without him. However, all of Romeo's rules were exactly what she had been wanting after confiding in Sasha this afternoon. It was what the doctor had ordered for their marriage.

"Deal."

#

Meanwhile, at on home on the farm, Sid, Sasha and Dex were saluting and praising whatever trick Romeo had used to prevent Indi from calling as frequently as they had expected her to. If the mother had got even a sense that her son was as unsettled as he was, Romeo and Indi would be back sooner than they'd left.

As it turns out, Bailey, rarely a screamer, suffered from nearly as much separation difficulty as his mother. The baby had not stopped screaming for longer than a mouthful of air since ten minutes after his parents had departed.

Already they had tried nearly every trick in the book to try and appease his happiness. Singing, taking him for a drive, rocking him to sleep, playing, taking him for a walk, pulling out toys that he was way too little to play with, pulling out and playing family home videos with recordings of Romeo and Indi's voices, checking for signs if he was sick…. Everything and anything had been tried.

Currently, Dex had drawn the short straw with trying to soothe the screaming baby, almost having to yell over his loud cries to talk to the other two. "How is this even possible?! He's two months old and he already screams like Indi can!"

Aware of the fact that he brother was informing them of, Sasha was desperately Googling ways to settle screaming infants and Sid was trying to revisit memory lane in hope of an instantaneous memory of how he had managed to settle the baby's mother all those years ago.

Although the night was progressing on, they had already received two unexpected phone calls from Indi, which Dex and Sid consecutively had needed to move outside to answer, in fear of their sister hearing her unsettled son, and hurrying home by the fastest means of transport.

"There was this time, Sash, when Dad took us two shopping. I was 4, so Indi would have been about 6. Anyway, Dad wouldn't let up and buy Indi this Barbie Castle that she desperately wanted, so she literally screamed at the top of her lungs until he gave in and bought it for her. See what I've had suffer with for all these years!"

Without looking up from her phone, Sasha was sniggering to herself, without admitting that she was remembering a similar story from her own childhood, before Sid contributed to the story.

"That's right. She screamed so loud that it even made Dex cry…"

"Hey! I was little. You weren't even supposed to remember that part!"

#

Later in the night, as Romeo and Indi finished up the dinner date and consumed their final drinks, Kyle noticed the tell-tale signs of a stirring couple, with all the signals that they were ready to leave.

"Would you like the bill now?" Kyle questioned as he walked over to the table for two and joined Romeo and Indi.

"Yeah, thanks. I was just about to get up and get it" Romeo replied friendlily appreciating the Braxton whom he knew the least's gesture.

While Romeo was momentarily otherwise occupied, his wife seized the moment and Indi checked her phone with all the paranoia of a hypochondriac. "Busted. Put it down, he's fine. We'll be back there before too long…" he reasoned to her, just receiving a pouted dispute as she purposely looked across the room and away from him.

Returning with the bill and making the appropriate payment transactions took only a few minutes before Kyle unknowingly made the mistake of putting his foot in it, with the attempt of being conversational as he returned Romeo's credit card. "So, date night is it? Where's the little guy?"

Indi's eyes constricted at the reminder of her son, having had to battle her own suppression of thinking about him, not being prepared for the mention of him by someone else.

"Yeah, Bailey's at home with the other three. I'm just warning you that you might want to stay far away from that topic though… It seems that somebody's been experiencing a little bit of separation anxiety."

"Oh… Okay, I see" Kyle laughed in understanding. "I'm sure they're doing fine with him. Anyway, I'll leave you two to it. Enjoy the rest of your night."

"See ya mate" Romeo grinned, despite trying not to expose his amusement at how alarmed his wife looked, without any good reason. "Do you want to head home now? What do you say?"

Romeo hadn't needed to ask twice, before the couple were out the door and on the way back home.

#

"Where is he?" Indi screeched as she burst through the door of the family farmhouse.

Her excitement was met by a series of low-whispered, but firm "Shhh's!" as she made her way into the lounge room. The other three Walker's were sharing the lounge together, Sid in the middle and holding her sleeping baby, with Dex and Sasha on either side of their father. "Oops. Sorry..."

Indi beamed at the sight, before covering her mouth from her initial noisiness that had threatened the harmony of the moment. "How was he?"

"He was an angel" Sid replied convincingly, despite lying through his teeth. Bailey had only been asleep for the shorter side of 10 minutes as his consistent, nightlong cries were swallowed by the baby's exhaustion that he had struggled to fight. The trio's ears were still ringing from the noise.

"Aw that's good…" Indi smiled, walking over to take her baby boy for a hold that she had been aching for all night, smothering his head with a few gentle kisses. "Thank you for looking after him."

"Did you have fun? Good date night?" Sasha questioned eagerly, hoping the damage to her eardrums had been all for a good purpose and helped the initial cause of why she had offered to babysit Bailey tonight.

"Yeah, it was nice being alone just the two of us for a little while" Indi smiled as she slowly walked off to her bedroom to put the baby boy to bed.

Like passing ships, Romeo and Indi passed in the hallway for a brief kiss, with Romeo kissing his sons forehead too before he was put to bed. Indi continued to their room while he walked out to the living room to be with the others. "Thanks for looking after him guys, appreciate it. How was he?"

The three had let their guard down a lot more once the mother of their nephew and grandson was satisfied, but failed to pull it up well enough to convince the father.

There was a series of: "Uh yeah, good, he was, yeah, good's" and similar variations of such while Romeo immediately saw straight through his in-laws excuses. "Right, and how about the truth now?"

"God, your kid has got the lungs of a heavy metal lead singer!" Dex confessed, being the first to break the silence that they considered lying through again.

"Heavy metal? Try death metal!" Sasha added in frustration.

Romeo laughed lightly. "Sorry about that… Was he asleep for long before we got back?"

"10 minutes, max!" Dex replied as he slapped his hands to his face, leaving his father to balance out the worst-baby-in-the-world stigma in the room currently. "He was okay given the circumstances. It was his first night without mum or dad. He just played the unsettled role very well."

The younger blond nodded in understanding, before thanking the exhausted three once again and returning to their room.

"Sorry for being so anxious tonight…" Indi said upon Romeo entering their bedroom. "I really did enjoy your company and all that, I was just a bit worried about Bay. I wasn't sure how he'd go without us. At least we know that he's good if we ever want him babysat… We could even make you and me going out without him more of a regular thing.

Romeo struggled to hide a smirk as he moved across the room and closer to Indi, pulling her in for a close hug. "I'm sure that the others would be delighted…"

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry guys! The updates don't seem nearly as far apart to me as they do when I realize how long it has actually been! What can I say, year 12 is crazy stuff! Hope you enjoyed this chapter nonetheless! Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter - I believe that the last one was the most reviews I have ever received on a single chapter so wow, thank you!<strong>

**Will love you forever if you drop a cheeky little review in there and let me know what you thought.**

**Next chapter: **

**# Romeo springs a life-changing surprise on Indi.**


End file.
